SMS Electronics triples XJTAG licenses to meet upsurge in demand

SMS funds additional licenses by switching to XJTAG’s new corporate licensing plan with its unbeatable five-year price promise
XJTAG boundary scan is a strategic product for SMS as many of its customers are now designing their complex BGA-populated boards with the system in mind

CAMBRIDGE, England, October 23, 2008 — SMS Electronics, one of the UK’s leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies, has tripled the number of XJTAG boundary scan system licenses it holds to enable it to meet an upsurge in production demand at its 11,000 square metre manufacturing facility in Nottingham, England.

The new licenses will be funded by SMS switching to XJTAG’s credit crunch beating corporate licensing plan, which is aimed at corporate customers with multiple licenses. The new license plan, which includes a five-year price promise, as well as support, maintenance and annual upgrades, is designed to help customers expand their capability while keeping a handle on costs.

“The XJTAG system is now a strategic product for us and we are increasingly using it in place of traditional and costly in-circuit test fixtures,” said Chris Hunt, sales and marketing director of SMS Electronics. “We therefore had no hesitation in tripling the number of XJTAG seats at our facility, particularly as XJTAG’s new corporate licensing plan allows us to take advantage of the incredible five-year price promise – keeping a tight reign on capital expenditure is important during the current climate.”

SMS Electronics has seen a substantial increase in production output in 2008 following a spate of new contract wins, the success of its fast turnaround printed circuit board prototyping operation, and the launch of SMS Product Services which provides full product lifecycle support. SMS Electronics was as an early adopter of XJTAG boundary scan and uses it throughout its operation and also encourages customers to utilise the system as a debug and development tool.

“Several of our OEM customers now have their own XJTAG licences and as a result of this and the success of our own prototyping business, an increasing proportion of the high complexity boards that we are manufacturing are XJTAG-enabled,” added Chris Hunt. “XJTAG is gaining wide market acceptance because it’s remarkably easy-to-use, designer-friendly and because it consistently and significantly reduces new product introduction timescales and lifecycle costs.”

XJTAG’s IEEE Std. 1149.x compliant boundary scan development system is cost-effective solution for the entire product lifecycle. It is used worldwide by design engineers, developers, OEMs and contract manufacturers for debugging, testing and programming complex ball grid array populatedprinted circuit boards (PCBs) and systems.

“It’s great to see that SMS is increasing the investment in XJTAG and that their use of our systems at the development and prototyping stage is contributing to the upsurge in production volumes,” said Simon Payne, XJTAG’s CEO. “Our corporate licensing plan is designed to provide our growing corporate customer base with a means of expanding their boundary scan capability whilst at the same time keeping tight control of costs.”

SMS Electronics is committed to providing high quality contract electronics manufacturing. By continually investing in state-of-the-art equipment, the company has the ability to place components from as small as 01005 through to 85mm square and odd-shaped components of up to 125mm long. With a placement capacity of up to 5 million components per day, coupled to a full product build capability, SMS Electronics offers a true cradle-to-grave service from prototype to end-of-life WEEE disposal.

For more information about XJTAG’s corporate licensing plan, please contact XJTAG, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS, UK. Telephone +44 (0) 1223 223007, fax +44 (0) 1223 223009 or email enquiries@xjtag.com. Alternatively, visit old.xjtag.com.

For more information on SMS Electronics or SMS Product Services please contact SMS Electronics, SMS House, Technology Drive, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1AD. Tel +44 (0) 115 957 5757, fax +44 (0) 115 957 5758 or email sales@smselectronics.co.uk. Alternatively, visit www.smselectronics.co.uk.

About SMS Electronics (www.smselectronics.co.uk)

SMS Electronics is one of the UK’s leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies. With over 240 employees, 11,000 square metres of floor space and a manufacturing heritage stretching back more than 100 years, the Nottingham, England-based company offers a full range of services including prototyping, design for manufacture and test, printed circuit board assembly (surface mount and through hole), extensive test capability, and system assembly. It also offers product lifecycle support through its sister company, SMS Product Services. SMS Electronics serves UK-based original equipment manufacturers across a variety of market sectors including: consumer, industrial, instrumentation, leisure, medical, security and telecoms.

About XJTAG (old.xjtag.com)

XJTAG is a leading global supplier of IEEE Std. 1149.x compliant boundary scan development systems. XJTAG offers a highly competitive solution for designers and developers of electronic printed circuit boards and systems. Utilising XJTAG allows the circuit design, development and manufacturing process to be shortened significantly by facilitating early development of reconfigurable and re-useable test scripts that can be used from design validation through prototype debugging and on into manufacturing.

The XJTAG development system enables engineers to debug and test a high proportion of the circuit (both JTAG and non-JTAG/cluster devices) including BGA and chip scale packages, such as SDRAMs, Ethernet controllers, video interfaces, Flash memories, FPGAs and microprocessors. XJTAG also enables In-System Programming of FPGAs, CPLDs and Flash memories, and XJTAG clients have access to a library of device-centric test scripts. XJTAG is based in Cambridge, UK, and is part of the Cambridge Technology Group. XJTAG has a global network of distributors servicing Europe, the Far East, North and South America, the Middle East and Australasia.