100,000 users for free PCB design tool

RS Components, the trading brand of Electrocomponents, has recorded 100,000 users of the educational network licence for the company’s free-for-download DesignSpark PCB design tool.

Since the introduction of DesignSpark PCB in 2011, the educational network licence has enabled 100,000 users from more than 200 educational institutions to learn, share and use the PCB tool quickly and effectively. The network licence provides students, educators, researchers, technicians and laboratory managers with the necessary flexibility to use the tool at their place of education and at home on their personal PC.

Before the launch of the licence, the DesignSpark PCB tool needed to be individually installed on each PC within an educational establishment, meaning a significant investment in time for institutions with hundreds or thousands of PCs. This changed with the introduction of the educational network licence, which substantially reduces the time and cost it takes to download and install the tool. In addition, DesignSpark ensures that the network licence is always supported with teaching materials, tutorials and technical support.

“Investment in education is critical to nurturing the next generation of engineers,” said Mike Bray, vice president of DesignSpark at RS. “This milestone figure of 100,000 users of DesignSpark PCB via the educational network licence, across hundreds of institutions worldwide, is proof of its value and success. Enabling technicians to download and install the software on multiple PCs, over a short period, is a huge advantage in terms of time and cost.”