Polar Instruments

What Polar Instruments does

Polar Instruments is a privately-held engineering software and hardware company that develops tools for PCB signal integrity, layer stackup design, and controlled impedance measurement. The product suite is built on a proprietary Boundary Element Method (BEM) field-solving platform refined over nine generations of CITS hardware, and centres on Speedstack (PCB stackup design with PCB, Si, Flex, and HDI variants), Si8000m and Si9000e (field solvers for controlled impedance and frequency-dependent insertion loss / S-parameters / RLGC matrices, including proprietary Cannonball-Huray and Gradient roughness models), CITS880s (ninth-generation controlled impedance test system with Launch Point Extrapolation), and Atlas / Atlas Si (insertion-loss measurement from Touchstone files or VNA control). Adjacent products include CGen coupon generators, IPS/IPDS test probes, and SiExcel/Si Crosstalk add-ons. The company serves PCB fabricators, OEM pre-layout engineers, contract electronics manufacturers, PCB brokers, and specialised verticals including defense, aerospace, and communications.

Distribution is hybrid: wholly-owned sales subsidiaries in the USA (Beaverton, OR), UK (Waterlooville), Singapore (regional HQ), China (Shanghai, Zhuhai), India (Bangalore), Korea, and a network of authorised distributors and authorised service centres covering Austria, Hungary, Japan, Taiwan, and the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Revenue is generated from perpetual and floating software licenses (Speedstack, Si8000m, Si9000e, CGen, Atlas), hardware sales (CITS880s and probes), annual Polarcare maintenance subscriptions, and the CITS880s Assure hardware-as-a-service subscription, with leasing available on request. Polar's positioning is reinforced by integrations into Cadence Allegro (IPC-2581), Mentor Xpedition (OpenDoor Partner), Zuken CR-8000, and Ucamco Integr8tor, and by an online material library fed by 20+ laminate and copper-foil manufacturers including Rogers, Isola, Panasonic, Gore, Ventec, Arlon/ACCM, and AGC/Resonac. Polar Instruments Ltd is headquartered in Guernsey, UK; no external funding, parent company, or investor ownership is disclosed.

Name

Polar Instruments

Legal name

Polar Instruments Ltd

Website

https://polarinstruments.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Polar Instruments develops PCB signal integrity, stackup design, and controlled impedance measurement software and hardware for the printed circuit board industry, serving PCB fabricators, OEM pre-layout designers, and CEMs globally through its Speedstack, Si8000m/Si9000e, CITS880s, and Atlas product lines.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

PCB Signal Integrity Software

NAICS

Bare Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing (334412), Instrument Manufacturing for Measuring and Testing Electricity and Electrical Signals (334515), Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing (3344)

SIC

Printed Circuit Boards (3672), Instruments For Meas & Testing Of Electricity & Elec Signals (3825)

akta.pro primary industry

Printed Electronics & Advanced Substrates (HDI, IC Substrates, Embedded Components) (HDAHAOAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Industrial PCB & Substrate Components (Bare PCBs, rigid-flex, ceramic substrates, thick-film) (IMAGAJAM)

Keywords

• PCB stackup design
• Signal integrity software
• Controlled impedance tools
• Insertion loss measurement
• Impedance field solving

Headquarters

HQ city

Beaverton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices12 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses: Polar sells software licenses for Speedstack PCB, Speedstack Si, Speedstack Flex, Speedstack HDI, Si8000m, Si9000e, CGen PCB, CGen Si, and Atlas. Licenses are available as node-locked (fixed to MAC address or FlexNet ID/dongle) or floating (server-based, counted or uncounted).
2. Hardware Products: Sale of CITS880s (Controlled Impedance Test System) and CITS880 (legacy) impedance test mainframes, along with a comprehensive range of test probes including IPS/IPDS single-ended and differential probes, and groundless differential probes.
3. Polarcare Maintenance and Support: Annual Polarcare subscription providing software maintenance, technical support, on-premise material library access, and entitlement to software upgrades. Also covers CITS880s maintenance including annual calibration.
4. CITS880s Assure: Annual subscription combining rental of CITS880s mainframe with annual software license grant, providing full maintenance, support, planned calibration, and repair or replacement during the subscription term.
5. Lease Financing: Polar offers leasing arrangements for product purchases, available by contacting their sales team.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Polar Instruments develops and sells PCB signal integrity, stackup design, and controlled impedance measurement tools for the printed circuit board industry. Its core products are software-based — the Speedstack PCB layer stackup design suite (PCB, Si, Flex, HDI variants), the Si8000m multi-dielectric boundary element field solver, and the Si9000e frequency-dependent field solver — complemented by the CITS880s controlled impedance test hardware and Atlas insertion loss measurement system.

Product overview

Polar Instruments provides a comprehensive suite of PCB signal integrity and stackup design tools. The product portfolio centers on Speedstack (PCB stackup design tools available in PCB, Si, Flex, and HDI variants) which integrates with field solvers Si8000m (controlled impedance) and Si9000e (insertion loss with frequency-dependent modeling). Supporting products include CITS880s (controlled impedance test system), Atlas/Atlas Si (insertion loss measurement), and CGen (coupon generator). These tools work together to enable PCB designers and fabricators to design, document, and verify controlled impedance and high-speed transmission line characteristics throughout the manufacturing process.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Speedstack: PCB stackup design tool for layer stackup planning, design and documentation
• Speedstack Si
• Speedstack PCB
• Speedstack Flex
• Speedstack HDI
• CITS880s
• Si9000e
• Atlas
• Atlas Si
• CGen
• CGen Si
• CITS880s Assure
• Polarcare
• Polarcare for CITS

Products and services

• Speedstack Industry standard PCB stackup design tool used by professional PCB designers, fabricators, and brokers to document and design layer stackups, drill plans, and material requirements complete with high-speed transmission line information.
• Speedstack PCB Packaged combination of the Si8000m field-solving impedance calculator and the Speedstack professional PCB layer stackup design system, including a link and license for Si8000m using a multiple-dielectric boundary element field solver.
• Speedstack Si Advanced PCB transmission line design and stackup package that includes Si9000e for loss modeling and insertion loss analysis, designed for multi-GHz designs with high layer-count builds.
• Speedstack Flex Flex-rigid PCB stackup design and documentation tool that allows PCB fabricators and OEM engineers to create and document flex-rigid PCB layer stackups with a graphical navigator and sub-stack support.
• Speedstack HDI HDI PCB stackup design and documentation tool providing a comprehensive PCB stackup design environment for PCB fabricators, pre-layout engineers, and value-add PCB brokers with sequential lamination support.
• Si8000m Multiple-dielectric boundary element PCB controlled impedance field solver designed for impedance-controlled PCB trace dimensions; the established solver of choice for OEMs and fabricators working with impedance-controlled PCBs.
• Si9000e Multiple-dielectric frequency-dependent PCB transmission line field solver extracting insertion loss, RLGC matrices, and S-parameters for multi-GHz designs; includes Cannonball-Huray/Gradient roughness modeling, differential via calculation, and via stub check.
• CITS880s Ninth-generation controlled impedance test system with Launch Point Extrapolation (LPE) and groundless differential testing; four-channel system enabling traceable impedance measurements on fine-geometry PCBs.
• Atlas PCB insertion loss measurement system using a Vector Network Analyser or Touchstone file processing, supporting Delta-L 4.0 test methods up to 43.5GHz.
• Atlas Si for Touchstone Touchstone PCB insertion loss processing system supporting Delta-L 4.0 with the Eigenvalue method (compliant with IPC TM650 2.5.5.12) and importing .s4p Touchstone files for de-embedding and analysis.
• CGen PCB Automatic impedance coupon generator that creates controlled impedance test coupons from scratch or imports stacks from Speedstack and structures from Si8000/Si9000 field solvers.
• CGen Si Insertion loss coupon generator incorporating all CGen PCB features plus insertion loss coupon capability.
• CITS880s Assure Annual subscription program combining rental of a CITS880s mainframe with an annual software license grant, providing full maintenance, support, planned calibration, and repair or replacement during the subscription term.
• Polarcare Annual software maintenance and support subscription providing technical support, on-premise material library access, and entitlement to software upgrades for Polar software products.

Quantifiable outcome

• Speedstack PCB stackup creation is 10x faster than traditional drawing package/Word/Excel-based methods
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Cadence Design Systems (Allegro)coreTechnology or IntegrationCadence Allegro PCB Designer customers can share stackup information with Speedstack through the industry standard IPC-2581 interface. Both Cadence Allegro and Polar are IPC2581 consortium members, enabling bidirectional exchange of pre-layout stackup and PCB transmission line information.
• Mentor Graphics (Xpedition)coreTechnology or IntegrationMentor Xpedition customers use Speedstack to connect with Xpedition Constraint Manager, enabling accurate import and communication of pre-layout stackup and PCB transmission line information prior to committing board layouts. Mentor Xpedition Constraint Manager VX.2.3 through VX.2.5 support Polar Speedstack v12.0 .stkx files. Polar is a Mentor Graphics OpenDoor Partner.
• Zuken (CR-8000 Design Force and DFM Center)coreTechnology or IntegrationPolar Speedstack PCB layer stackup design tools link directly with Zuken CR-8000 Design Force and DFM Center. The connection enables pre-layout stackup communication, material specification sharing, and impedance information replication within the CR-8000 environment. Zuken DFM Center integrates directly with Speedstack for PCB manufacturing pre-processing and CAM.
• Ucamco (Integr8tor)coreTechnology or IntegrationUcamco Integr8tor customers benefit from a close linking of Speedstack and Integr8tor. The mutually designed interface allows Speedstack to work as the primary stackup design solution for Integr8tor, using a single material database for faster job processing and fewer errors.
• Rogers CorporationcoreTechnology or IntegrationRogers Corporation is a Material Partner in Polar's Speedstack online material library program. Rogers provides detailed dielectric constant and loss tangent values for their high-speed PCB laminate materials, specifically broken down by glass/resin ratio for particular prepreg or core thicknesses.
• Isola GroupcoreTechnology or IntegrationIsola Group is a Material Partner in Polar's Speedstack online material library program, providing detailed material data for their PCB laminate products integrated into Speedstack's material library.
• Panasonic CorporationcoreTechnology or IntegrationPanasonic Corporation is a Material Partner in Polar's Speedstack online material library program, providing material property data for their PCB substrate products integrated into Speedstack.
• W. L. Gore & AssociatescoreTechnology or IntegrationW. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) is a Material Partner in Polar's Speedstack online material library program, providing material data for their high-performance PCB materials.
• Ventec International GroupcoreTechnology or IntegrationVentec International Group is a Material Partner in Polar's Speedstack online material library program, providing laminate and prepreg material data integrated into Speedstack.
• Arlon Electronic Materials (ACCM)coreTechnology or IntegrationAdvanced Chip & Circuit Materials (ACCM), a subsidiary of Arlon, is a Material Partner providing material property data for Speedstack's online material library. ACCC contributes expertise on glass spread in glass-resin PCBs.
• AGC Inc. (Resonac)coreTechnology or IntegrationAGC Inc. (formerly Asahi Glass Company) and Resonac Holdings are Material Partners in Polar's Speedstack online material library program.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Cadence Design Systems: Cadence's Allegro PCB platform exchanges IPC-2581 data with Polar Speedstack, while Sigrity provides competing signal integrity and power integrity analysis; Cadence is both a partner and a broad incumbent competitor in PCB SI.
• Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics): Siemens EDA's Xpedition and HyperLynx PCB SI tools are tightly integrated with Polar via Constraint Manager, but Siemens also competes directly with bundled field-solving and signal integrity capabilities across its broader EDA portfolio.
• Zuken: Zuken's CR-8000 Design Force and DFM Center integrate directly with Speedstack for stackup and impedance data, but Zuken also offers its own PCB design and DFM capabilities that overlap Polar's adjacent territory.

Regional players

• EMA Design Automation: EMA Design Automation distributes and supports EDA tools in North America, including Cadence and other PCB/signal integrity offerings, competing for the same pre-layout engineering budgets that Polar targets.

Direct peers

• Keysight Technologies: Keysight manufactures Vector Network Analyzers (used with Polar Atlas) and ADS electromagnetic simulation software, both directly comparable to Polar's measurement and field-solving products for high-speed PCB signal integrity.
• Rohde & Schwarz: Rohde & Schwarz supplies high-performance Vector Network Analyzers and EMI test equipment used for PCB impedance and insertion loss validation, competing in the measurement hardware layer adjacent to CITS880s and Atlas.
• Ansys: Ansys HFSS, SIwave, and Ansys Circuit provide 3D electromagnetic and signal integrity simulation for PCBs and packages, competing with Si9000e in frequency-dependent field solving and S-parameter extraction for high-speed designs.
• Anritsu: Anritsu ShockLine and VectorStar VNAs are integrated with Polar Atlas for Delta-L 4.0 insertion loss testing, making Anritsu a direct comparable for the measurement hardware layer of Polar's signal integrity stack.
• Ucamco: Ucamco's Integr8tor CAM and DFM software integrates with Speedstack for stackup communication, while Ucamco also drives the Gerber and IPC-2581 standards Polar relies on, making it both a partner and adjacent competitor.

Emerging players

• Simberian (Simbeor): Simberian's Simbeor is an electromagnetic signal integrity solver for PCB and packaging interconnects, with comparable frequency-dependent loss and via modeling to Si9000e but smaller market presence.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@PolarInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/polar-instruments-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Polar Instruments