WILSONVILLE, OR — A group of leading PCB and PLM industry software providers today announced The Enterprise Data eXchange (EDX) Solutions Alliance, an open industry forum whose goal is the broad adoption of a new standard to maintain the security of PCB design IP.

Founding members include Agilent Technologies, Autodesk, Class Technologies, Mentor Graphics, Omnify Software, Perception Software and PTC.

EDX is a new data format created to capture printed circuit board-related IP in a standard form for safe and secure data-sharing with enterprise systems and remote third parties. Current interfaces to move or share these data are ad hoc and often tied to specific EDA software versions, which creates cross-dependencies between applications of independent companies and often requires costly adaptations or customizations. The EDX format was established to protect the integrity of all product data and the native design data, as well as their relationships, enabling secure exchange of the data at any point in time of the product life cycle, the Alliance said.

The format represents data in a consistent manner independent of the tools used to create it or to read it. Even as design tools advance, the EDX structure will remain consistent and intact; only content of the native files change but not the interfaces to share the data. This provides companies with the flexibility to upgrade their PCB design flow independently from existing interfaces to both third-party and enterprise tool.

EDX is an XML-in-ZIP format which uses a combination of Open Packaging Convention containers to hold the data files, manifest files to organize the content, and the latest digital signature technology for secure, reliable data exchange and archiving. All data types associated with the PCB design are supported (native design data, library data, related component data, BoMs, manufacturing files, ODB++ as the product model, and viewable files such as PDF and EDIF). EDX also provides the flexibility to incorporate any additional data object that the designers may want to include such as functional specs, test results, spec control drawings for library parts, etc.

Membership to the EDX Solutions Alliance is free. The EDX Solutions Alliance website is www.edx-sa.com.

• Prev
• Next