SYDNEY, Australia - June 7, 2004 - Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), a leading developer of Windows-based electronics design software, today announced significant updates to the capabilities and performance of the autorouter in the latest version of its complete board-level design system, Protel.

With the release of Service Pack 1, Protel 2004's PCB autorouting technology (the Situs topological autorouter) now features a comprehensive Routing Setup Report that enables the designer to more easily identify and troubleshoot rule violations, greatly improving routing completion rates. The new report analyzes the defined design rules and reports on potential routing conflicts and routability problems. This enables the designer to rectify errors early in the board routing process rather than after a failed autorouting attempt, saving time and making troubleshooting problem boards easier.

The autorouter also gives the user more scope to deal with differing design geometries with an expanded set of routing alternatives including the addition of a new orthogonal routing strategy option and re-cornering pass. The update also includes a number of routing engine enhancements that bring significant speed and quality improvements to the entire autorouting process.

"These latest enhancements will greatly boost productivity and improve router performance in complex designs," said Nick Martin, Joint CEO and founder of Altium. "In harmony with Altium's mission, these updates are aimed at making design easier for the Protel engineer leaving them with more time to focus on other complex design issues and getting their products out the door."

Pricing and availability
Protel 2004 is priced at US$7,995. For a limited time, this price also includes a free NanoBoard; a LiveDesign-enabled development board with swappable FPGA daughter boards (RRP US$995), and a 1-GB USB 1.1/2.0 flash drive valued at approximately US$300.

Service Pack 1, which includes the new autorouting features as well as a significant number of other updates across the entire system, has been released and is available for free download to all 2004 licensed users from www.altium.com/downloads/2004SP1/default.asp.

For more product information, visit www.altium.com/protel/ or contact your local Altium Sales and Support Center.

About Altium Limited
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) is a global developer and supplier of electronics design software for the Microsoft Windows environment. Founded in 1985, Altium released the world's first Microsoft Windows-based printed circuit board design tool in 1991 and continues to provide advanced, easy-to-use and affordable software design tools to electronics engineers, designers, and developers worldwide. Altium's products offer tailored solutions covering a range of hardware and software design processes including the well-known Protel, P-CAD and TASKING brands. Altium is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and has sales and support offices in Australia, the United States, Japan and Europe. More information is available at www.altium.com.

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Altium, CAMtastic, CircuitStudio, Design Explorer, DXP, LiveDesign, NanoBoard, NanoTalk, Nexar, nVisage, P-CAD, Protel, Situs, TASKING, and Topological Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited or its subsidiaries. All other registered or unregistered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners, and no trademark rights to the same are claimed.