Mainboard design by Fujitsu wins Technology Leadership Award from Mentor Graphics

The award went to the D3183 mainboard which the designers developed for Fujitsu’s ESPRIMO Q910 personal computer. Among other things, the judging committee of independent experts recognised the fact that the Fujitsu team succeeded in fitting numerous layers, including onboard power supply, onto a board with a small form factor even without using HDI technology. The panel commended the close synchronisation of development and manufacturing at the Augsburg plant as something unique within the international electronics industry. It enables Fujitsu to cut costs by optimising manufacturing procedures. This synchronisation, as well as the award-winning know-how of the design department, also has a positive effect on those mainboards which Fujitsu produces for industrial computers and embedded systems of third-party manufacturers, rather than for their own PCs.

Mentor Graphics is among the worldwide leaders in software and hardware solutions for the development of electronic circuitry. The renowned Technology Leadership Award has been awarded every year since 1988 for outstanding achievements in the design of printed circuits. A panel of independent experts judges the quality of the design in relation to the state of the art, the diligence of the tests performed, and the practicability of the design in light of the requirements of mass production.

ESPRIMO Q910 is a desktop computer with a footprint smaller than an A4 sheet of paper. Despite its small size, it combines high computing performance and energy-efficiency. Fujitsu Technology Solutions managed to fulfil the demands on the mainboard with a sophisticated design which can still be manufactured with standard procedures and a high degree of automation.
It was a very ambitious technological goal to develop a high-performance, energy-efficient board for this innovative design. The combination of high-density design, demands on security, and the requirement of a high degree of automation in manufacturing were a real challenge. We are particularly pleased that it was this fundamentally new design that won us the award and even outscored a notebook design by Samsung, explains Andreas Schaefer from the development department of Fujitsu Technology Solutions in Augsburg.

Stephan Hornung, Senior Director Workplace Systems Research & Development at Fujitsu Technology Solutions, is happy about the award and emphasises: We are proud to be best-in-class once more. The excellent achievement of our development team is a benefit not only to users of our ESPRIMO Q910. The award-winning D3183 board is one of a family of products that are all designed, tested, and manufactured according to the same methods. Therefore, the award-winning know-how of our developers also helps companies using these mainboards in their own industrial PCs and embedded applications from medical engineering to digital signage. In the process, the competent design-in support for such products which our Augsburg plant can offer to European customers from within the same time zone is a major advantage over our Asian competitors.