Sunstone Circuits® Announces New CAD Conversion Service Allowing Direct Upload of PCB Design Files

Mulino, OR – April 19, 2011 – Sunstone Circuits, the printed circuit board (PCB) prototype solutions provider, is now offering a new CAD conversion service when placing an order for Sunstone’s Full Feature or Quickturn printed circuit boards, saving the design engineer valuable time and effort.

With the new native file upload functionality, customers will experience the following benefits:

• More consistent conversion – Allow the designer to focus on the design at hand; Sunstone Circuits will handle the CAD file conversion.
• Faster transition to ordering – As simple as attaching the PCB design file; the need for Gerber exports no longer exists.
• Reduced Delays in manufacture – Incorrect Gerber files are one of the most common reasons orders go on hold, or suffer delays. Eliminate this step with the new native file upload service.
• Improved revision control – Design modifications happen every day. A design engineer modifies a design, places an order for a revision of the board, but accidentally sends Gerber files from an earlier version. With native file upload, a customer can make the changes, send Sunstone Circuits the new version of the PCB design file, and there is peace of mind that what is received is the most up to date design data.
• The CAD conversion is available at no extra charge.

With the new native file upload service, and as an alternative to providing Gerber files, design engineers can now order prototype boards using their original design files, provided they use one of the following packages:

• Altium (including Protel and other Altium-owned tools)
• EAGLE
• OrCAD
• National Instruments Circuit Design Suite
• Sunstone's Free PCB123 design software

"We listened to customer feedback and realized that the new native file upload service could save the design engineer precious design time and money. With this new native file upload service, we continue our commitment to meeting the needs of our customers,” said Sunstone’s Director of Marketing, Diane M. Economaki. “Incorporating this functionality into the PCB online ordering process is just another example of how Sunstone is listening to customer input in order to deliver what our customers deserve.”

Learn more about the new native file upload functionality

About Sunstone Circuits^®

Sunstone Circuits^® pioneered the online ordering of printed circuit boards (PCBs), and is the leading PCB solutions provider with more than 35 years of experience in delivering quality engineering software along with quick and on-time PCBs for the electronic design industry. Sunstone Circuits is dedicated to improving the PCB prototyping process from quote to delivery (Q2D^®) and provides "live" customer support every day of the year (24/7/365). For more information about Sunstone's PCB solutions plus online quote and ordering process, please visit www.Sunstone.com

Trademarks: PCBexpress^®, ValueProto^®, PCB123^®, Q2D^®, and the Circuit Design ECOsystem^SM are trademarked by Sunstone Circuits.