6-18-07 SPEEDING EDGE TO CONDUCT HIGH-PCB AND SYSTEM DESIGN CLASSES IN BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA AND TORONTO, CANADA
4-9-07 SPEEDING EDGE ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF VOLUME 2 OF POPULAR HIGH SPEED PCB AND SYSTEM DESIGN HANDBOOK
9-6-05 SPEEDING EDGE TO DONATE PERCENTAGE OF BOOK SALE PROCEEDS TO HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORTS
5-12-04 SPEEDING EDGE TO LAUNCH NEWSLETTER FOR HIGH-SPEED PCB AND SYSTEM DESIGN
5-12-04 SPEEDING EDGE INTRODUCES TEST LABORATORY SERVICES FOR HIGH-SPEED PCB IMPEDANCE AND POWER SUBSYSTEM TESTING
10-14-03 SPEEDING EDGE ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF “RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK ON HIGH-SPEED PCB AND SYSTEM DESIGN”
Release 6-18-07
Lee Ritchey´s renowned two-day high
class to be offered in public venues
GLEN ELLEN, Calif., June 18. 2007—Speeding Edge, a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines, today announced that company president, Lee Ritchey, will conduct his renowned two-day high-speed PCB and system design class in two public sites. The first class will be held in Burlingame, California, August 6-7, 2007 and the second class will be held October 15-16, 2007, in Markham (Toronto), Canada. Those wishing to attend either course can register for the class through the company´s website, speedingedge.com.
Lee Ritchey, founder and president of Speeding Edge noted, “I make on-going changes to our two-day class based on the design issues I encounter during my current consulting activities. We have found that when one company has a particular design problem, it´s more than likely that several companies will be experiencing similar problems. This is due to new components being continually introduced to the market; the resulting higher speeds of those components and changing package design considerations. The challenges arise when engineers are trying to integrate these new components into ‘legacy’ designs.”
Speeding edge regularly conducts private on-site classes for companies but, as Ritchey noted, “It is often helpful for students to share information about their design problems and the various engineering techniques they are employing to solve those problems. Conducting our courses in a public setting allows us to share state-of-the art information with the widest audience possible. Our goal with our classes is to get real-world information into the hands of our students so that they can go and solve real-world design problems the day they finish our class.”
Speeding Edge´s highly practical course is designed to take the student through the entire process involved in designing and fabricating high speed PCBs. It begins with the fundamentals of electromagnetic fields and the behavior of transmission lines that are the basis for all high-speed signaling. From there, it examines all of the aspects of high-speed design leading to the development of a robust set of PCB design rules that accounts for power subsystem design, routing rules and design of PCB stack-ups as well as the fabrication rules needed to balance performance against cost and manufacturability.
The materials and examples used in this course are drawn from actual designs of high speed systems in current manufacture. These examples range from video games to terabit routers and cover the complete range of designs. The design process presented is based on many years of completing designs that are “right the first time”. Students are shown many ways to improve their design process so that designs meet this objective. Reliable methods for controlling and containing EMI will also be thoroughly covered.
This course places special emphasis on very high speed differential signaling protocols such as XAUI, Hypertransport, PCI Express, Infiniband, SATA, SSCSI and others that are the backbone of modern computing. Actual circuits are built and tested and then modeled to correlate modeling techniques. The topic of how to design power delivery systems capable of supporting these protocols is also addressed. Further details regarding the class are available at the company´s website, speedingedge.com .
Each student attending the class will receive a 3-ringer binder containing all of the slides (numbering more than 300) used in the class as well as a copy of the company´s book, “Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design Volume 1.” The company´s recently released Volume 2 of the book is available for an additional fee of $95.00 per copy.
Pricing and Availability
Students can register for either the Burlingame or Toronto class on the Speeding Edge website, www.speedingedge.com. For those students attending the course in Burlingame, Ca, an early registration discount of $1195 for the two-day course is available until July 16, 2007. After July 16, the cost of the class will be $1295. For the Toronto class, an early registration discount is available until September 24, 2007 at the price of $1195.00 (U.S.). After September 24, the cost of registration will be $1295 (U.S.).
About Speeding Edge
Speeding Edge is a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines. Founded in 1994, by Lee W. Ritchey, a recognized industry expert in these design disciplines, the company offers private, on-site training classes to high tech companies as well as courses through UC Berkeley´s extension program and industry conferences and trade-shows around the world. More than 6,000 engineering professionals have attended these courses. Speeding Edge is based in Glen Ellen, California. Additional information about Speeding Edge is available at speedingedge.com.
Release 4-9-07
Second in series of instructional books provides detailed
description of PCB design and manufacturing process
GLEN ELLEN, Calif., April 9. 2007—Speeding Edge, a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines, today announced the availability of the second volume of its popular handbook, Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design. While Volume 1 of the handbook addressed the fundamentals of high-speed design, Volume 2 provides a detailed explanation of the steps necessary to design and manufacture a high-speed PCB that works right the first time.
Lee Ritchey, founder and president of Speeding Edge noted, “Our goal with this book is to provide a hands-on guide that enables engineering professionals and business decision makers to arrive at critical decisions about the design and fabrication of printed circuit boards that not only work right the first time but are also built with the most cost-effective and time efficient methodologies possible. To that end, we have included an extremely detailed description of the PCB fabrication process; how to select the right PCB materials; the process of understanding and controlling EMI and the various types of glass styles and their impact on board impedance.”
“All too often in our industry, the design and manufacture of PCBs is thought of as a ´throw-away´ process that does not require extensive attention to detail,” Ritchey continued. “The assumption is that all of the value-add of today´s electronic products is in the software. That is certainly true, but the hardware is the foundation on which that software must run. If the hardware isn´t built right, none of the remaining steps of the product design will be successful. For example, the poor package design of many recent IC implementations has caused a number of products and even companies to fail. The reality is that even the simplest of today´s electronic products are high speed because of the complex circuitry incorporated into them and, as a result, they must be designed taking the speed of that circuitry into account.”
Specific topic highlights of Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design, Volume 2 include:
- Simulation methodologies and toolsets
- A complete description of various PCB structures and their influence on signal integrity
- The build-up fabrication process
- Bare and assembled board testing
- Split planes and return currents
- The virtual prototyping process and the tools used in that process
- A detailed PCB fabrication specification
- Power system tests
- Comprehensive laminate data for high-speed applications
Pricing and Availability Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design, Volume 2, is available for immediate purchase and will be shipped to customers by the end of April.
Speeding Edge is offering special promotional discount pricing on all of its products to coincide with the release of this latest publication as follows:
- Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design, Volume 2: $95.00 per copy
- Right the First Time, Volumes 1 and 2: $170.00 for both copies
- Right the First Time, Volumes 1 and 2 and subscription to the Speeding Edge quarterly newsletter, Current Source, $210.00
Release 9-6-05
SPEEDING EDGE TO DONATE PERCENTAGE OF
BOOK SALE PROCEEDS TO HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORTS
20% of net sales proceeds will be donated until the end of 2005
GLEN ELLEN, Calif., September 6, 2005—Speeding Edge, a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines, today announced its support of the relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Between now and December 31, 2005, the company will donate 20% of the proceeds from the net sales of its publication, “Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design, Volume 1,” to the relief effort when the book is purchased directly through Speeding Edge. The book is priced at $95.00 per copy and is available for purchase through the company´s website at www.speedingedge.com; by fax at 707-568-3504 or by telephone at 707-568-3983.
Lee Ritchey, founder and president of Speeding Edge noted, “The high tech industry has a substantial number of small, highly specialized companies. During these difficult times, it´s sometimes hard to imagine that companies such as ours can make a difference. But, if we all chip in just a little, it can quickly add up to a sizeable contribution that can really have an impact. We´re hoping that our efforts will spur other small high-tech companies to take similar action. We can all continue to do ´business as usual´ while still participating in easing the suffering of the thousands of victims of the hurricane.”
About Speeding Edge
Speeding Edge is a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines. Founded in 1994, by Lee W. Ritchey, a recognized industry expert in these design disciplines, the company offers private, on-site training classes to high tech companies as well as courses through UC Berkeley´s extension program and industry conferences and trade-shows around the world. More than 5,000 engineering professionals have attended these courses. Speeding Edge is based in Glen Ellen, California. Additional information about Speeding Edge is available at www.speedingedge.com.
Speeding Edge is a trademark of Speeding Edge. All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and should be treated as such.
Release 5-12-04
SPEEDING EDGE TO LAUNCH NEWSLETTER FOR
HIGH-SPEED PCB AND SYSTEM DESIGN
Current Source © Newsletter will provide timely, design-critical information for designers and engineers
GLEN ELLEN, Calif., May 12, 2004—Speeding Edge, a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines, today announced that it would launch a quarterly, subscriber-based newsletter in June 2004. Current Source Newsletter will provide up-to-date information on the issues and concerns facing today´s high-speed PCB and system designers. The newsletter is an adjunct to the company´s “Right The First Time, A Practical Handbook On High-Speed PCB and System Design, Volume 1,” that was published in October 2003.
Lee Ritchey, founder and president of Speeding Edge noted, “Since the publication of our first book, we have had a number of requests for additional information as well as questions regarding some of the technical information contained in the book. While we intend to publish Volume 2 of the book in 2004, we have determined that we need to have a more timely method for addressing these questions and requests for information. Hence, we have decided to launch Current Source.”
Each issue of Current Source will contain at least one major feature article on a current design concern; a section on tool tips and usage; a frequently asked questions and answer section as well as information on upcoming classes taught by Ritchey. The basis for the contents of all the foregoing elements will be derived from the input and requests received by Speeding Edge. The content will also reflect information that is gained from the company´s on-going engineering consulting activities.
Ritchey added, “We believe that a print version of the newsletter will be most useful for our readers. We envision the issues of the newsletters to be ´living´ documents placed in three ring binders that are readily on hand at designers´ and engineers´ desks. Current Source will be produced four times a year and will be subscriber-based. Providing a fee-based publication allows us to provide valuable information and not be influenced by any advertisers. As a result, the information contained in our newsletters will be industry-neutral in terms of any vendors or their toolsets.”
Pricing and Availability
The first issue of Current Source will be available in June 2004. The newsletter, which will be produced four times a year, will cost $60.00 per subscription. Individual copies of the newsletter will be priced at $20.00. For those customers wishing to purchase both the newsletter along with the company´s book, “Right The First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design,” Speeding Edge is offering a special promotional pricing of $160.00 (a $25.00 savings), excluding sales tax, shipping and handling charges. The book and newsletter can be ordered directly off the company website at www.speedingedge.com or by telephone at 707-568-3983.
About Speeding Edge
Speeding Edge is a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines. Founded in 1994, by Lee W. Ritchey, a recognized industry expert in these design disciplines, the company offers private, on-site training classes to high tech companies as well as courses through UC Berkeley´s extension program and industry conferences and trade-shows around the world. More than 5,000 engineering professionals have attended these courses. Speeding Edge is based in Glen Ellen, California. Additional information about Speeding Edge is available at www.speedingedge.com.
Speeding Edge is a trademark of Speeding Edge. All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and should be treated as such.
Release 5-12-04
SPEEDING EDGE INTRODUCES TEST LABORATORY SERVICES
FOR HIGH-SPEED PCB IMPEDANCE AND POWER SUBSYSTEM TESTING
Service addresses important aspects of verifying transmission line impedances and power supply voltage impedance vs. frequency characteristics
GLEN ELLEN, Calif., May 12, 2004—Speeding Edge, a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines, today announced that it is now offering test laboratory services for high-speed PCB impedance and power subsystem testing. The expertise of Speeding Edge staff as well as equipment owned by the company enables the verification of transmission line impedances as well as the ability to test power supply impedance vs. frequency to support load requirements.
Lee Ritchey, founder and president of Speeding Edge noted, “For any high-speed PCB design, there are two important tests that need to be performed to ensure the viability of the design. The first involves verifying that transmission line impedances are correct. The second consists of testing the power supply impedance vs. frequency to make sure that all loads are properly supported.” “Most engineering departments don´t have the necessary equipment to perform these tests,” continued Ritchey. “Because the two pieces of equipment required to perform these tests-a time domain reflectometer (TDR) and a spectrum analyzer cost about $30,000 or more and are used infrequently, it does not make sense for these departments to make these costly investments. In addition, the successful completion of these tests requires a specialized skillset not available in most departments.”
A TDR is used to measure transmission line impedance. It consists of a voltage step generator that launches very fast rise time pulses down the line to be tested and a sampling oscilloscope that monitors the voltage that travels on the transmission line. From the size and polarity of a reflection, the transmission line impedance can be measured. The spectrum analyzer measures the spectral composition of an electrical waveform. Used with a tracking signal generator, it can measure the impedance vs. frequency of a power subsystem.
Pricing and Availability
Speeding Edge performs its test laboratory services on a contract basis on-site at customer facilities or at the Speeding Edge headquarters. Fees for the service are dependent upon individual, specific design needs. More information about the services can be obtained by contacting Speeding Edge through the company website at www.speedingedge.com or by telephone at 707-568-3983.
About Speeding Edge
Speeding Edge is a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines. Founded in 1994, by Lee W. Ritchey, a recognized industry expert in these design disciplines, the company offers private, on-site training classes to high tech companies as well as courses through UC Berkeley´s extension program and industry conferences and trade-shows around the world. More than 5,000 engineering professionals have attended these courses. Speeding Edge is based in Glen Ellen, California. Additional information about Speeding Edge is available at www.speedingedge.com.
Speeding Edge is a trademark of Speeding Edge. All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and should be treated as such.
Release 10-14-03
SPEEDING EDGE ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF
“RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK ON
HIGH-SPEED PCB AND SYSTEM DESIGN”
Thorough, comprehensive technical publication addresses all aspects of high-speed PCB and system design. GLEN ELLEN, Calif., October 15, 2003—Speeding Edge, a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines, today announced the availability of the company´s first technical reference manual, “Right The First Time, A Practical Handbook On High-Speed PCB and System Design, Volume 1.” Written by Speeding Edge founder and president, Lee W. Ritchey, the book addresses all aspects of the design process including the physics behind high-speed design involved in transmission line management, crosstalk management and power subsystem design.
Ritchey noted, “With today´s current process technologies, it´s difficult to find a design that does not fit the criteria of high-speed. The ability to correctly implement these designs can mean the ultimate success or failure of a product or a company. Also, present economic conditions mandate that designs be created without costly design iterations or respinning of boards or silicon. With the foregoing in mind, it´s important that today´s engineers have a ready, practical handbook that can address the major factors involved in creating a high-speed design and also enable them to implement the resulting designs, hands-on, in a timely, cost-effective manner.” Chuck Corley, distinguished member of the technical staff for Mahi Networks in Petaluma, California, noted, “Lee’s book is based on years of running his own business building boards for major companies; hundreds of test board experiments and the broad range of experience gained from consulting for dozens of companies and working with their most experienced engineers.” Corley continued, “If you could go back in time and ask a talented engineer to spend their life writing a book on high speed PCB design for you, what instructions would you give them? First, you would have them run their own business building PC boards for the major industry players learning everything about engineering their highest-technology PC boards. Next, you would have them work for the cutting-edge companies as their signal integrity consultant and have them pick up on all of the latest knowledge from working with the industry’s best and brightest. Last, you would have them not accept anything without building and testing all the theories along the way and then record all of the knowledge, formulas and results in a book. This is Lee’s book. The time machine I used I have stashed away.”
While geared towards engineering professionals, “Right The First Time, A Practical Handbook on High-Speed PCB And System Design, Volume 1,” is of significant value to anyone involved in making business decisions relative to designing and implementing high-speed systems. It presents a complete picture of what goes into developing a high-speed system including PCB material and fabricator selection; cost issues and design trade-off decisions. It also contains an exhaustive glossary of technical terms, their definitions and their use relative to high-speed design.
Topic Highlights include:
- Basic transmission line theory
- Impedance calculation and control
- Termination strategies
- Signal integrity
- Managing overshoot, undershoot, ground bounce and vcc bounce
- Establishing a successful noise management budget
- Power subsystem design and bypass strategies
- PCB material evaluation and selection
- Coupling and crosstalk
- Differential Pair Management
- Instruments and tools for high speed design; how SI tools are used
- Examining the properties of various IC packages
Pricing and Availability
“Right The First Time, A Practical Handbook On High-Speed PCB And System Design,” is available now and is priced at $95.00 per copy, excluding sales tax and shipping and handling charges. The book can be ordered directly off the company website at www.speedingedge.com or by telephone at 707-568-3983.
About Speeding Edge
Speeding Edge is a leading industry training and consulting firm specializing in the high-speed PCB and system design disciplines. Founded in 1994, by Lee W. Ritchey, a recognized industry expert in these design disciplines, the company offers private, on-site training classes to high tech companies as well as courses through UC Berkeley´s extension program and industry conferences and trade-shows around the world. More than 5,000 engineering professionals have attended these courses. Speeding Edge is based in Glen Ellen, California. Additional information about Speeding Edge is available at www.speedingedge.com. Speeding Edge is a trademark of Speeding Edge. All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and should be treated as such.