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i have 3 full Protel99SE license and we route nearly everything from simple 8051 designs up to i386 and AMD-ELAN design and even u-wave (@2.54GHz) without any problem. it works here in engineering teams where a couple of engineer work at the same time on the same schematic and pcb until it goes into production. protel has a build in SI-Tool and until now routed every board with the autorouter and get PCb that confirm with EMC measurements in mixed designs (CPU @66MHz and analog amplifier with 100dB Gain)
protel99se has the option to have all files that are involved in a design being stored in a database. this has the advantage that evryting is stored in there and protel keeps an eye about the files. if this file grows and grows, then the auto compact is not enabled. we have absolutly no problem with that feature and use it since 1999.

it is true that the next relase phoenix will be released 1Q2002 and beta testing is still going on.

if you are not shure about to buy buy it or not, watch and follow the discussion at the mailing list for a while. if you buy protel99se now you should get the next release for free.

we have tested also orcad and several other eda packages and moved from orcad (now cadence) to protel.

have fun.

Michael