FAQ

Altium Designer is a professional PCB design software platform used by electronics engineers to create schematics, PCB layouts, and manage electronic product development. Prime EDA helps organisations optimise their Altium Designer environment with deployment, consulting, support, and training.

Prime EDA is an independent EDA consultancy specialising in the Altium platform. We help engineering and R&D teams deploy, govern and get full value from Altium Designer, Altium 365 and SiliconExpert, through implementation, consulting, support, training and project management.

No. Prime EDA is an independent consultancy and Altium partner, and is not owned by Altium. That independence lets us give impartial, practical advice focused entirely on what works best for your team.

No. We help organisations adopting Altium for the first time as well as long-time users who want to modernise workflows or unlock capabilities they are not yet using.

Altium 365 is Altium's cloud-based platform that connects PCB design, data management and real-time collaboration in one place. It links desktop tools such as Altium Designer to a shared cloud workspace, so engineering, mechanical and manufacturing stakeholders all work from the same up-to-date data.

Altium Designer is the desktop application engineers use to capture schematics and lay out PCBs. Altium 365 is the cloud platform that stores, manages and shares that design data, adding collaboration, version control, library management and supply-chain visibility on top. They are built to work together.

Altium Develop is the part of the Altium 365 platform focused on day-to-day design work, helping teams develop electronic products efficiently, with built-in collaboration and clear project visibility for engineers and managers alike.

Altium Agile centralises design data, lifecycle information and collaboration in a single platform, giving full project visibility and connecting engineering, supply chain and operations through structured workflows. It suits larger organisations that need governance, traceability and compliance across teams.

Octopart is Altium's electronic-parts search engine. Octopart Discover goes further by combining design intent with lasting system context, helping engineers find viable parts, weigh trade-offs and make better sourcing decisions earlier in the design process, when changes are easiest to make.

A deployment sets up your complete Altium design environment: configuring Altium Designer and Altium 365, standardising design and production templates, integrating third-party and external data, and building a centralised, well-governed component library your whole team can rely on.

It depends on your team size, the state of your existing libraries and data, and how many workflows need standardising. After an initial assessment we give you a clear scope and timeline. Get in touch and we will map out the fastest route for your situation.

Yes. We convert and consolidate existing libraries, templates and design data so they work cleanly in the Altium environment, removing duplication and giving your engineers a single trusted source they can find and manage components in.

Setting up or changing an EDA environment involves far more than the software. We manage the whole project, planning, coordinating stakeholders across engineering, IT and management, and driving full adoption, so the change lands on time, on budget and is future-proof.

SiliconExpert is a leading platform for electronic component intelligence. It gives engineering and supply-chain teams reliable data on more than one billion components from over 15,000 manufacturers, covering lifecycle status, availability, compliance and supply-chain risk.

Prime EDA integrates SiliconExpert directly into your Altium workflow, so component intelligence such as lifecycle, availability, compliance and risk data is available exactly where your engineers design, rather than in a separate tool.

SiliconExpert aggregates real-time change notices from over 1,000 manufacturers and flags parts at risk, with detail on lifecycle status, multi-sourcing and available inventory, so you can catch obsolescence before it reaches production and protect your schedules and budgets.

Yes. It provides compliance data for global regulations including RoHS, REACH and conflict minerals, helping you identify and manage compliance risk across your bill of materials early in the design process.

Premium EDA Support gives Altium users expert, hands-on guidance that goes beyond standard product support, focused on advice, best practices and your specific workflows. It helps new users get productive faster, saves time searching documentation, and gives smaller teams a trusted advisor.

We provide comprehensive Altium Designer and Altium 365 training for every level, from getting started to advanced workflows. Knowledge multiplies when it is shared, and our training is built to help your team use the platform to its full potential.

Yes. We tailor training to your team's level and goals and can deliver it in the format that suits you. Tell us what your team needs and we will build a programme around it.

Yes. Beyond software, we have the knowledge and network to help lay out, assemble and test your printed circuit boards.

Licensing is best handled case by case. Get in touch and we will advise on the right Altium products and licences for your needs and point you in the right direction.

We are based in Markelo, the Netherlands, and work with customers across the region. Our website and support are available in English, Dutch and German.

You have invested in a powerful design stack; most organisations use only a fraction of it. As an independent specialist, we close that gap, modernising workflows, governing design data and upskilling teams so your design environment becomes a genuine competitive advantage.

Book a no-obligation technical assessment. We will look at where your EDA tools are not delivering the productivity, control and predictability you expected, and show you exactly where your fastest gains are.