"Why is Sonnet providing a free simulator with real capability and the ability to save projects? Why does Sonnet give so much away?"

Sonnet Lite provides a level of capability that may be sufficient for a very large number of customers. They may never need another planar EM field solver since Sonnet Lite provides sufficient capability for their analysis needs, and allows them to save their designs for later modification and analysis. So why would Sonnet be willing to trade away a large portion of the high-frequency planar EM analysis market? There are several reasons we do this. And they range from commercial to academic.

Of course, there are commercial reasons. If we provide an introductory product that is easy to get, easy to use, reliable, accurate and easy to learn, we hope many high frequency professionals will turn to Sonnet when they need capabilities in 3D planar EM analysis which exceed the limitations imposed on Sonnet Lite. And it is our hope that university students who use Sonnet Lite in their high-frequency design courses will ask for Sonnet products when they are employed in industry.

Real-world EM software should be freely available for academic use. At Sonnet, we are a company of engineers, nearly all of whom specialized in high frequency design or analysis. And we wish that tools like this had been freely available while we were acquiring the skills and knowledge in school for our high frequency design careers. Sonnet Lite gives us an opportunity to stimulate thinking, intuition and understanding in the world of high frequency 3D planar circuits and interconnects, at a price that any university student or graduate student can afford--nothing! And by making it freely available, we hope we can revolutionize the way that EM software is applied to high frequency circuit design problems by removing the cost barrier from learning.

We want to make EM software a mainstream component of high frequency circuit design. It's our firm belief that high frequency EM software needs to be a mainstream component of design and analysis toolkits for any high frequency designer. High frequency EM software offers significant capability to the RF, digital, analog or microwave engineer who knows how and when to use it. But in the past, its use was limited only to those who could afford it, and who had privileged opportunities to learn to use it. As the world's first successful high frequency planar EM software developer, we have a rare opportunity to give back to the industry by providing true commercial, time-tested EM software at no cost. And this significantly lowers the cost of getting a high frequency EM software education.