ROCHESTER, NY – EMA Design Automation today announced a North American promotion whereby Cadence OrCAD Capture software will be offered for free with a one-year maintenance plan.

The offer upends the typical EDA pricing schedule, under which the initial purchase of a tool includes software cost and one year of maintenance. As part of the promotion, the perpetual license deal comes with product updates and bug fixes for a year, live phone support, access to EMA's resource center and access to Cadence online support.

In a statement explaining the move, Manny Marcano, president and CEO of EMA, noted the discrepancy between tool pricing and startup budgets.

“In today’s economy there are many innovators in large and small companies that want to bring their ideas to life as products, but might not have the budget for the best tools and are forced to use mediocre tools because of the cost. We want to fix this situation.” 

According to EMA, many startups and companies with reduced budgets use tools that do not enable their future needs. When the innovator’s needs surpass the tool capabilities, like not being supported by a component vendor for a reference design, or failing to grow with the company’s increasing technology needs, the cost of ownership jumps as the tools impact user productivity.

The scalability of OrCAD Capture, EMA says, avoids such problems because it leverages Allegro, Cadence's higher-end suite.

Along with access to OrCAD Capture, the offer provides additional service and support benefits that are not available with traditional free / low-cost options. The OrCAD Capture software comes with its own component library, and the promotion also includes a three-month license of OrCAD Library Builder for creating symbols, footprints, and 3D models for numerous part types. The promotion further includes tutorials and a self-paced training course complete with lessons and exercises to lead new users through the software.

“At the end of the maintenance period customers can choose whether to pay for another year of maintenance. Whether they do or not, the software is theirs,” Marcano said. “We find that the vast majority of OrCAD customers choose maintenance each year so they can benefit from product updates and support. We are very proud of the fact that the customer satisfaction for EMA support is extremely high.”

Ed.: Corrects a previous error which indicated the license was for one-year only.

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