New Version of Icepak Focuses on Design Integration; Electronics Cooling Simulation Made Easier Through CAD Import and Export Options.

Business/Technology Editors

LEBANON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 2000

Fluent Inc. announces that the newest version of its Icepak electronics cooling simulation software is now available. Icepak 3.2 provides major new user options for reading files to and from CAD and other CAE packages commonly used in electronics engineering. "Our customers use Icepak because it provides thermal information that helps them to design better and faster," says Icepak product manager Rajesh Nair. "It helps them to find the best way to keep their system cool," he adds "but design time and cost are further reduced when the thermal, electrical, and mechanical analyses are as streamlined as possible. Icepak 3.2 gives you more ways to 'talk' to your other CAE software than any other thermal design tool - that's the major significance of this version," he concludes.

CAD Import/Export Options

Icepak and Pro/Engineer users already have a choice of using a direct CAD interface from within Pro/Engineer. In addition, Icepak 3.2 offers a general-purpose IGES interface and ability to import in the IDF format used by ECAD vendors Mentor, Cadence, and Zuken. This enables users to import their printed circuit board layouts for thermal analysis and integration with the system-level design in Icepak. For computerized thermal, stress, and mechanical analysis, data from Icepak can be exported into Nastran, Patran, and IDEAS Universal files. The Patran files from Icepak can be read into ANSYS.

Other significant enhancements in this newest version include an improved shell conduction model, which increases the versatility of Icepak by improving its capability to solve problems containing thin plates and complex geometries, such as PCB's, clamshell housings, honeycomb heatsinks, and BGA packages. A number of macros for heat sinks, PCBs, packages, solar flux, and others round out the list of new features.

The Market Responds

Icepak's user base has doubled for two consecutive years. Nair speculates on the reasons for the thermal modeling software's growing popularity: "Plain and simple, the need for thermal analysis is growing," he says. "Electronics are getting smaller and more sophisticated, which makes cooling them a pervasive design issue. Our users also say a lot about how easy it is to learn and apply Icepak - some are trained to use it in hours. I think that is a factor, because time pressure is everywhere in this market. Our technology handles complex designs well, and now that we're leading the field in design integration, I am confident that Icepak, and thermal analysis in general, will continue to be a hot design issue in electronics," he concludes.

Pricing and Availability

Icepak 3.2 is currently available on UNIX and NT platforms worldwide. Typical entry level pricing is $20,000, which includes the software and unlimited technical support.

Corporate Background

Fluent Inc. is a subsidiary of Aavid Thermal Technologies Inc. Fluent is a world leader in the rapidly growing field of computerized design and simulation software. Its software is used to predict fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, chemical reaction and related phenomena. Fluent's software products and services help engineers with detailed product development, design optimization, scale-up and retrofitting. The software significantly reduces engineering cost while improving the final design of products in applications ranging from design of electronic components and systems to automotive engineering, and from combustion system design to process plant troubleshooting.

Fluent's corporate headquarters are in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA with offices throughout the United States. Its European headquarters are in Sheffield, England with additional offices in France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. Its Asian headquarters are in Tokyo, Japan. Fluent's software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships and distributors in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, and most European countries.

For more information on Aavid Thermal Technologies, visit www.aatt.com. For general information on Fluent, visit www.fluent.com. To learn more about Icepak specifically, visit www.icepak.com.

Icepak is a trademark of Fluent Inc., and is a joint development of Fluent Inc. and ICEM-CFD Engineering.

Images and captions to accompany this release can be downloaded from http://www.icepak.com/news/press/press.htm.