In this episode of the Printed Circuit Podcast, guest host Matthew Walsh \u2014 stepping in while Steph Chavez attends PCB West \u2014 welcomes Adam Cabler, Chief Cloud Architect at Siemens Electronic Board Systems, to explore a game-changing evolution in electronics design: the shift to cloud-native, AWS-powered PCB tools. Together, they unpack how Siemens blossomed in the cloud space from accelerated collaboration and compute scalability to IT simplicity and enterprise-grade security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For decades, PCB design has been tied to desktop software, siloed workflows, and hardware limitations. That\u2019s changing fast. As Cabler noted, the motivation to go cloud-native PCB design wasn\u2019t just about modernization \u2014 it was about unlocking team velocity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to give our customers the same level of cloud-accelerated development that the software world saw with GitHub,\u201d Cabler said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, engineers can visualize and annotate massive multi-layer boards right in a web browser: no downloads, no lag, and no performance drop. With AWS compute infrastructure, Siemens offloads pre-processing from the user\u2019s machine, enabling smooth design markup without throttling local resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For IT teams, the shift is equally transformative. Gone are the day of manual software installations and ticket queues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs soon as users buy the software, they get access to it \u2014 plus every update after that. No IT involvement is needed,\u201d said Cabler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This instant-access model minimizes downtime, reduces support overhead, and ensures that engineers always work with the latest toolsets all without waiting on local deployments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a post-pandemic world where teams span time zones and continents, real-time PCB collaboration is mission-critical. With AWS-enabled tenants, Siemens delivers techniques like intelligent content caching and global data replication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teams can commit revisions and instantly view them worldwide. And thanks to pre-processed visualizations, collaborators can review and annotate designs in-browser without any syncing delays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same way software engineers share source code. You finish a revision, check it in, and your team has it \u2014 instantly,\u201d Cabler said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Security remains a top concern for teams handling sensitive design IP. Siemens addresses this head-on by following ISO 27001 and SOC 2 standards, conducting regular threat modeling, and leveraging AWS\u2019s Well-Architected Framework. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll data is encrypted \u2014 at rest and in flight \u2014 and protected with role-based access control,\u201d Cabler emphasized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether it\u2019s an administrator adjusting a board or a reviewer offering comments, permissions are tightly scoped to maintain design integrity and safeguard IP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cloud doesn\u2019t just improve access; it fundamentally enhances performance. Complex simulation methods like Monte Carlo and parametric sweep are notoriously time-intensive on local machines. With dynamic scaling, Siemens can parallelize workloads across AWS infrastructure, drastically reducing turnaround time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou hit run, and what would take hours locally can now be completed in minutes,\u201d said Cabler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One company already benefiting from Siemens\u2019 cloud ecosystem is UK-based Nextbase<\/em>, a leading dashcam manufacturer. Using PADS Professional with Connect Cloud, they streamlined collaboration with component suppliers and flagged BOM risks early\u2014dramatically reducing time to market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of positive feedback around spotting availability issues early. That alone makes a huge impact,\u201d Cabler said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking forward, Siemens is investing heavily in cloud-native design intelligence. Upcoming capabilities will enhance component visibility, power decision-making, and unify data between desktop and cloud environments in real time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n AI and ML are also on the roadmap, with assistive features like predictive error detection, contextual recommendations, and workflow automation already arriving in the latest Xpedition releases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about giving engineers the right information at the right time,\u201d said Cabler. \u201cStart by understanding your users\u2019 pain points. Leverage AWS\u2019s expertise. Embrace modern patterns like microservices. But most importantly \u2014 build security and compliance in day one. Don\u2019t save it for the end.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cloud technologies are reshaping the design lifecycle\u2014from simulation and visualization to collaboration and compliance. With Siemens and AWS leading the way, engineering teams can innovate faster, collaborate globally, and build with confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As host Matt Walsh put it: \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to hear how our AWS partnership is delivering real, tangible benefits to customers\u2014this isn\u2019t theory. It\u2019s already transforming modern PCB design.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn more expert advice on <\/strong>PCB Design<\/strong><\/a> and listen to the<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>Printed Circuit Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this episode of the Printed Circuit Podcast, guest host Matthew Walsh \u2014 stepping in while Steph Chavez attends PCB West \u2014 welcomes Adam…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110515,"featured_media":11745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,12,14,15,17],"tags":[112,113,1730,1881,1883],"industry":[],"product":[693],"coauthors":[1847],"class_list":["post-11744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-learning-resources","category-pcb","category-podcast","category-tips-tricks","tag-pcb","tag-pcb-design","tag-pcb-design-best-practices","tag-pcb-dfm","tag-pcb-manufacturing","product-pcbflow"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-4.28.48-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11746,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744\/revisions\/11746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11744"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=11744"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=11744"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What\u2019s next: Design intelligence and AI on the horizon<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n