Posts filed under 'EDA'
August 11th, 2010
I am delighted to be able to return to EE Times as a regular columnist/blogger after a sixteen year absence. Richard Wallace, now blogging at “The Next Silicon Valley“, asked me to write “Nickel Tours of the ‘Net” which cataloged the impact of the Internet on Electronic Design as websites first started to become common in 1994. And now Junko Yoshida has asked me to look at innovation and entrepreneurship in the broader electronic systems design ecosystem.
Here are the kinds of insights that I hope my “Entrepreneurial Engineer” blog on EETimes will provide:
- Perspective on technology innovation.
- Analysis of business strategy for emerging markets.
- New models for global teams and multi-firm collaboration that are predicated on incessant collaboration among experts.
- Perspective on the impact of communication and pervasive connectivity in creating new business models.
- Insights from pioneering engineers on how new computing paradigms are enabling new models for how they invent.
- Interviews with entrepreneurs sharing lessons learned from their successes and their setbacks.
My first post, “An Interview with Paul van Besouw, CEO of Oasys Design Systems” is now up. Here are some excerpts:
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Paul van Besouw, CEO of Oasys Design Systems, and interview him on lessons learned from his entrepreneurial efforts at Ambit and Oasys. I have added hyperlinks where I felt they would provide context. [...]
Q: What are the two or three things that you have been able to accomplish that you take the most pride in or satisfaction from?
We created a new technology with a small team, and little funding. At first, we were completely self-funded. We rented a small apartment where we spent about a year just coding everything from scratch. Later, we received some seed funding from several EDA-savvy angel investors, which allowed us to move into a “real” office.
We had a working prototype by 18 months to show other angel investors, which allowed us to secure a bit more funding. I was able to attract the attention of some of the best people in the industry. It took some convincing, but I was also able to attract Joe Costello’s attention. He is now a member of our board of directors. [...]
Q: What development, event, or new understanding since you started has had the most impact on your original plan? How has your plan changed in response?
Venture capital for EDA is pretty much non-existent. This was a new reality and we were forced to do things differently. We are working with less money and fewer engineers on a longer development time-line than we would have if we had started Oasys 10 years ago.
Q: Any other remarks or suggestions for entrepreneurs?
[...] What makes EDA both interesting and challenging is that it is not only about the software. In the end, you are building software to build hardware. You have to start with insights into both and learn a lot more along the way. In many cases it is the experience of what does not work that really allows you to focus on the things that do work. EDA software is built on a technology foundation surrounded by algorithms. Starting out, a lot of time is spent on finding out what does not work. There are many details that need to be incorporated to enable your technology to work in an actual production flow.
Starting with a great technology is not sufficient.
Oasys has announced deals with Renasys, Xilinx, and Juniper this year and is poised to have a significant impact on the EDA industry. Go ahead and read the entire “Interview with Paul van Besouw, CEO of Oasys Design Systems“
June 21st, 2010
Kurt Keutzer was interviewed June 8, 2010 on the DAC website and he had a number of interesting things to say about engineering and entrepreneurship. What follows are some excerpts but it’s worth reading the entire interview. I have added several hyperlinks for context.
Career advice he gives his students:
- I think that every engineer needs to realize today that fundamentally they are a corporation of size 1. There’s no lifetime employment and a career is no longer a simple matter of riding the escalator in a big company. Individual entrepreneurship is a requirement, not an option.
- Every engineer needs to know how to assess the value of the technology they are working on. They need to know the difference between a technology, a product, and a market-maker.
- To do this they need to know how to identify a market, size it, and segment it. They need to understand the difference between technological advance and creating customer value, and that customers will pay for value and not, per se, technology.
- To understand this they have to be able to take a step back from technology and see the world through the eyes of the customer.
- In terms of career directions my advice is go where the growth is. In Foster’s classic S-curve [from "Innovation; The Attacker's Advantage], areas of technology tend to go through long fallow periods in which not much progress is made. Then there’s a period of explosive growth. Then there’s another long fallow period. You want to be right around the inflection point of explosive growth. Putting a lot of effort in an area, either too early or too late, will not yield results comparable to what even a modest amount of effort will yield when invested at the right time.
How would he apply technology S curve analysis to EDA?
- I wish I knew. EDA seems to be experiencing one of its longest plateaus in its history.
- EDA and the semiconductor industry seem to be in what could be called a “non-virtuous cycle” (i.e., a vicious cycle). New generations of EDA tools are not improving individual productivity very dramatically even as Moore’s Law continues. So the cost of building chips, of which the principal component is human capital, has risen exponentially. This high cost has led to fewer and fewer leading-edge designs each year. This means that EDA companies must charge the leading-edge customers more and more to keep their revenues up. This means the cost of leading-edge design increases further. It’s a downward spiral.
- FPGA suppliers have created another “non-virtuous cycle.” FPGA makers seek to control their own destiny by giving away tools for free. There are two problems with this.
- The tools FPGA vendors give away aren’t very good so designers aren’t very happy with the flows. For example, I can’t get my students to use FPGAs anymore if they have the alternative to use software-programmable standard parts.
- Because the tools are free, third-party tool companies can’t get a foothold to provide better tools. I believe that poor tools and design flows is one of the biggest inhibitors to the growth the FPGA industry.
Update June-23-2010: Paul McCllelan offers this perspective on what’s holding EDA back in his “DAC 2010 Retrospective”
EDA is still somewhat stuck in an outmoded style of design that assumes the chips are designed from scratch and then someone writes some software to run on them. In fact much of the software already exists: software generations are 10 times as long as chip generations, and chip design is increasingly about IP assembly rather than efficient design from scratch. I continue to believe that this block-level is an interesting choke point, with the potential to generate a virtual platform for the software developers and testers, and the potential to turn the design rapidly into an FPGA or SoC. But the tools don’t yet exist.
June 13th, 2010
We have been using our EDA Knowledge Portal to track DAC related stories, it’s now available on a subscription basis you are are interested.
You can also follow the #47DAC hashtag on twitter for breaking announcements during the conference. Last year’s roundup is available a DAC 2009 Blog Coverage Roundup.
Preparing For DAC 2010
Sunday Events
Note: I am worried that the default DAC website links will break in less than a year, they are tied to the top level DAC site not a DAC 2010 encoding. If anyone knows the permalinks for the DAC sessions please let me know. If you look at the DAC 2009 Blog Roundup the 2009 DAC sessions had a year encoded in the URL and they all still work.
Monday Events
Tuesday Events
Wednesday Events
Thursday Events
Recaps
Current count: 81 posts.
Original intro: If you write a blog post that reviews an event, a day, or DAC 2010 as a whole with some substantive commentary before the end of July I will include a link to it. Please leave a comment or contact me to let me know if I have overlooked or incorrectly categorized anything.
April 19th, 2010
We are working with a semantic technology firm to develop a new portal that will track EDA related blog posts and other content announced via an RSS, Atom, or other feed protocol . Our goal is to provide a richer level of aggregation and analysis than an RSS reader with 200 feeds offers today (see for example my list of 238 in my July 11, 2009 post “EDA Bloggers 2009“).
This is not intended to compete with any advertising supported sites, it will be a subscription service that will allow you to keep track of new blogs (including micro-blogs like twitter) and new blog posts on an ongoing basis.
If you are interested in tracking blog posts and new announcements in the design automation arena, I would like to schedule a short call to get your perspective and feedback on our plans. You can use the contact form to reach me by phone or E-mail.
October 27th, 2009
Sometimes paradigms do shift. Amazon announced today that its Elastic Cloud Computing now supports high memory instances:
High-Memory Instances
Instances of this family offer large memory sizes for high throughput applications, including database and memory caching applications.
- High-Memory Double Extra Large Instance 34.2 GB of memory, 13 EC2 Compute Units (4 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each), 850 GB of instance storage, 64-bit platform
- High-Memory Quadruple Extra Large Instance 68.4 GB of memory, 26 EC2 Compute Units (8 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each), 1690 GB of instance storage, 64-bit platform
From Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud overview of instances:
| High-Memory On-Demand Instances |
Linux/UNIX Usage |
Windows Usage |
| Double Extra Large |
$1.20 per hour |
$1.44 per hour |
| Quadruple Extra Large |
$2.40 per hour |
$2.88 per hour |
These 34.2GB and 68.4GB virtual machines should enable a number of new job types that required more memory than was available from standard instances:
- Small Instance (Default) 1.7 GB of memory
- Large Instance 7.5 GB of memory
- Extra Large Instance 15 GB of memory
In particular for Electronic Design Automation applications this makes the cloud much more viable as a fourth generation computing paradigm:
- Turnkey / Custom Hardware / Minicomputer
- Engineering Workstations
- X86 architecture PC
- Virtual Machines / Cloud Computing
Sometimes paradigms do shift.
Update Nov-23: The Amazon Web Services Blog announced “The New AWS Simple Monthly Calculator” available at http://aws.amazon.com/calculator
October 18th, 2009
With Synopsys announcing Synphony, a high-level design compiler that reads in MATLAB M code and generates RTL and some other useful outputs, and Mathworks listed in Gary Smith’s ESL 2009 Wallchart, I wonder if it doesn’t make sense to define MATLAB as an ESL language and Mathworks as an EDA player. Harry Gries provides a good overview in “Synopsys Synphony Synopsis” (say that three time fast)
Basically, Synopsys is introducing a high level synthesis (aka behavioral synthesis) product that takes as its input Matlab M-Code and produces RTL Code, a cycle accurate C-model, and a testbench for simulation.
Ron Wilson offers this assessment in “Synopsys introduces Matlab-to-RTL synthesis path for datapaths”
On the whole, it appears that Synphony is not intended to be a direct competitor to the other high-level synthesis tools in the industry, such as those from Cadence, Forte, or Mentor. Rather, it is an IP-library-based tool for converting M-files into fixed-precision models for Simulink, coupled to a synthesis engine to convert these fixed-point models into RTL datapath designs for input into Synplify or Design Compiler. It is a rather specialized tool, but a sorely needed bridge between the worlds of Matlab algorithm exploration and RTL development.
Mathworks has been attending DAC for many years, although it is not a member of EDAC [see below]. The Matlab language was also a supported input by AccelChip (now part of Xilinx) and Agility (now part of Mentor, although the tools for going from Matlab to C were sold to the Mathworks). These were some of the reasons that I had included the Mathworks blogs in my July 11 “EDA Bloggers 2009” list.
It would be interesting to see the Synopsys Interoperability Forum address Matlab interoperability at some point, they clearly have a significant stake in it with the Synphony announcement.
Sanjay Srivastava, the CEO of Denali, offered some excellent advice to startups in his Jul-23 “Can We Afford for Startups to Wind Down” (although he now is blogging on “A Conversation on Innovation” ) outlining two areas where startups have prospered in the last few years and one where they have not:
- New platform creation. Typically, this happens at the edges of an existing platform (at least in EDA). One of the mistakes we can make is in under-funding the creation of platforms because you are asking the customers to move to a whole new methodology, but they are only going to do it if the platform is complete. Leaving big gaps like “availability of models/libraries” can often render a promising platform useless. [...]
- Provide components to a significantly growing platform. This is where lots of EDA startups have flourished since the last big disruption of synthesis. They provided point tools. The platform owners were growing and could afford to pay big premiums to improve parts of the flow or add to them. [...]
- Improve components for mature platforms. This is the trap startups have been in for the last few years. [...]
At first blush Matlab looks like a growing platform, at least in terms of the opportunities for full integration into established EDA flows. It’s not clear where all of the opportunities might lie, but a few come to mind:
- Timing analysis across Matlab, RTL, and gate
- Register management across Matlab, RTL, C, and design documentation
- Power management across Matlab, RTL, and gate
- Functional Partitioning into Chips / Floorplanning for Chips for Matlab, RTL, and gate
- High level synthesis tools: certainly Synphony offers a “proof by example” for Oasys and other next generation synthesis tools.
This is part of an ongoing series on “Growing the Pie in EDA”
- Getting Back to “Growing the Pie in EDA”
- Growing the Pie in EDA Part 2: As Revenue Shrinks So Does Analyst Interest
Update Mon Oct-19: Daniel Payne points out that Mathworks has historically been a member of EDAC even if they are not currently listed as a member. They are listed as a member on slide 29 of the January 14, 2009 presentation by Bob Gardner at the CEO Forecast and Industry Vision meeting. I will seek clarification from Mathworks and EDAC.
October 12th, 2009
I am happy to be able to offer another guest blog by Nanette Collins, her first was on “Volunteering, Lessons Learned from the Trenches.” Nanette is an entrepreneur in her own right, she is the principal at Nanette V. Collins Marketing and PR with offices in Boston and San Francisco and one the web at www.nvc.com
It’s All About Corporate Culture by Nanette Collins
In the 15 years that I have owned a marketing consulting business, my focus has been on working with entrepreneurs and startups in the EDA and semiconductor area. This has given me a ringside seat to grand successes, gut-wrenching failures and plenty of case study material. I have seen a lot and learned a few things in the process.
If an entrepreneur were to approach me for advice on the first steps to starting a business, I’d recommend thinking carefully about the kind of culture he or she wants to create. This effort will set the tone and help lay a foundation for success. A corporate culture based on a strong value system and an implicit understanding of ethical business practices will engender loyalty from the team, customers and various other stakeholders.
Corporate culture is much more than Six Sigma, the business management strategy du jour, or Quality Circles implemented by many large companies in the 1980s. It’s also more than the detailed corporate identity list of must haves –– name, logo, tag line, website and so on.
Instead, it’s a careful assessment by a company’s management on how it should operate and be perceived, based on a standard set of ideals that reflect its goals and objectives. The corporate culture should be fluid enough to be able to integrate attitudes, behavior, experiences and personal and cultural values.
A great example is a long-gone EDA startup called Viewlogic that hired the Boston Public Relations firm where I worked as an account executive in the mid 1980s. What quickly became apparent was the thoughtfulness and care the five founders –– Sal Carcia, Alain Hanover, Will Herman, Ron Maxwell and K.S. (Sri) Sriram –– had placed on building the company’s corporate culture. Maybe it was instinct. It may have been good management skills. More likely, it was the experience that they gained from working for a large corporation before going off on their own.
Whatever the motivation, it was the right thing to do, but it took a year’s worth of meticulous planning before they launched themselves. This company taught me many things, but the most valuable insight was the need to pay attention to corporate culture.
As a regular visitor to this company long acquired by a larger vendor, it was clear to me that the focus on corporate culture instilled a set of shared values with employees. The entire team seemed to have a set of customs and traditions that was this company’s and none other, which made it a terrific client and business partner.
Employees were dedicated, focused and all had a sense of purpose. That’s because they understood where they fit within the culture and knew what was considered appropriate behavior. During new employee orientation, Will Herman proudly carried into the session a three-ring binder with the presentation on the company’s corporate culture. This emphasis helped the company navigate through tough times and encouraged the team to keep going. After all, even with a well-conceived corporate culture, it wasn’t immune to the vagaries of a new business.
As the company grew in size and got more successful, a plaque was hung in the reception area outlining its five-point value system, underscoring the corporate culture. Many of the specific points seem to have been forgotten over time, but there are a few that stand out:
- The first is an emphasis on professionalism and personal integrity that started with the founders who set the example for all.
- A focus on ensuring a return to all stakeholders –– investors, employees, customers and partners –– may seem obvious, but well worth articulating to the entire team.
- Providing value to customers may seem obvious as well, but who hasn’t experience lousy quality support from a formerly valued vendor? In recent years, many a large consumer company has been resoundingly criticized for their lack of customer service. A corporate culture focused on successful customers has to be a winning strategy.
I have worked with more than 30 startups and see too few founders give enough consideration to the culture of the firm that they are building, an unfortunate miscalculation. Too many entrepreneurs seem to think this is trite, quaintly old fashioned or don’t consider it at all. And yet, the benefits are numerous, from employee recruiting and retention to loyal customers and repeat business. With a strong corporate culture, there will be no ambiguity about behavior or ethics or what a company stands for.
Just as every startup has a product strategy and roadmap, it should also develop a set of corporate guidelines. It may be the blueprint for success.
I have included a 1985 article on Viewlogic for some background for readers who may be unfamiliar. The company was a pioneer in EDA but does not have a Wikipedia page or definitive history on-line that I could find. It’s from “D&T Scene,” IEEE Design and Test of Computers, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 10-15, May/June 1985, doi:10.1109/MDT.1985.294730
Viewlogic unveils first CAE product at show Viewlogic Systems, a start-up company formed in October 1984, will show its first product, a desktop CAE system based on the IBM PC, at this year’s Design Automation Conference. The company also announced it has received $1.5 million in first-round financing, provided by company founders and venture-capital firms.
Viewlogic was founded by Alain Hanover, Salvatore Carcia, Ronald Maxwell, Sri Sriram, and William Herman, all from Digital Equipment Corporation. The company claims that its software addresses key elements of a design engineer’s desktop needs, providing facilities for design, documentation, and communication.
An open architecture approach gives users access to a reliable electronic design automation system that fits into existing CAE environments.
Sriram, Viewlogic’s director of marketing, says that the key benefit of the system is that it is priced at a level that allows each design engineer to have a system at his desk, where it is always accessible. The PC-based system is powerful enough for many applications, but the software, written in C, is also available in a version that runs on a DEC VAX operating under VMS for more demanding applications.
The software is currently being evaluated at five beta sites.
October 9th, 2009
Ed Lee and I have continued our conversation about the changing media landscape for EDA and addressed some issues that are relevant to getting back to growing the pie in EDA. What follows is an excerpts from Ed’s blog “What’s PR Got To Do With It?” with some hyperlinks added to provide more context, the original post was “Startups, Stories, and Press Releases”
Sean: In EDA in particular, how many reporters, editors, market researchers, and financial analysts are there compared to 5 or 10 years ago?
Ed: Well, 5 or 10 years ago, we’d have two dozen or so key targets in the U.S., Japan and other parts of Asia and western Europe.
Sean: Targets? You mean more than editors?
Ed: Yep. Maybe a dozen reporters and editors, several market researchers, maybe half a dozen financial analysts, all of whom had audiences that affected the well being of EDA companies and of the industry as a whole. Today? Geez…can I count the number or reporters or editors on one hand? YES! There’s one market researcher: Gary Smith. The financial analysts are more or less not watching EDA any longer, and they don’t exist as entities working for investment houses.
Sean: In a technologically dynamic landscape, financial analysts would want to be aware of emerging startups, wouldn’t they?
Ed: They would. Today, these analysts cover some of the big guys, and rarely, and in essence, no one follows the space. Of course, there was Jim Cramer recommending Cadence. Now whether or not he’s a business analyst is another question.
I did count of the number of analysts covering EDA for a blog post in December 2006 “Coffee Break With Gary Smith” which marked Dataquest’s exit from analyzing EDA as an inflection point in the industry. Here it is:
EDAC lists 11 public companies
- ANST – Ansoft – 5 analysts
- ARMHY – ARM Holdings – 4 analysts
- CDNS – Cadence – 11 analysts
- LAVA – Magma Design Automation – 7 analysts
- LVGN – Logic Vision – No analyst coverage
- MENT – Mentor Graphics – 7 analysts
- MIPS – MIPS Technologies – 4 analysts
- PDFS – PDF Solutions – 6 analysts
- SNPS – Synopsys – 11 analysts
- SYNP – Synplicity Inc. – 3 analysts
- VIRL – Virage Logic – 5 analysts
There is a fair amount of overlap in coverage but it looks like there are perhaps 16-18 analysts covering at least one company in the industry and a core of about a dozen covering at least three. As a contrast, Xilinx has 27 analysts covering it and Altera has 30. These two FPGA players probably invest as much in CAD tools as many if not most of the companies listed above.
Updating that for today yields the following changes
- Ansoft was acquired by Ansys and is no longer a member of EDAC or an exhibitor at DAC.
- ARM Holdings is not a member of EDAC or an exhibitor at DAC
- LogicVision was acquired by Mentor
- Synplicity was acquired by Synopsys
And a comparable table:
- CDNS – Cadence – 6 analysts (down from 11)
- LAVA – Magma Design Automation – 2 analysts (down from 7)
- MENT – Mentor Graphics – 4 analysts (down from 7)
- MIPS – MIPS Technologies – 3 analysts (down from 4)
- PDFS – PDF Solutions – 3 analysts (down from 6)
- SNPS – Synopsys – 6 analysts (down from 11)
- VIRL – Virage Logic – 1 analyst (down from 5)
Xilinx has 20 analysts (down from 27) and Altera has 22 analysts (down from 30). This this time I am listing the analysts and which companies they cover (except that I am only listing where an “EDA analyst” also covers Xilinx or Altera, not the others who cover the two FPGA firms but none of the EDA firms).
- Canaccord Adams – Bobby Burleson: Magma, Mentor, PDF Solutions, Xilinx, Altera
- Craig-Hallum – Tony Stoss: MIPS
- Cowen & Co. – Raj Seth: Cadence, Synopsys, Xilinx, Altera
- DA Davidson – Matt Petkun: Cadence, Mentor, PDF Solutions, Synopsys
- Deutsche Bank – Tim Fox: Cadence, Synopsys, Xilinx
- JPMorgan – Sterling Auty: Cadence, Mentor, Synopsys, Xilinx, Altera
- Kaufman Brothers – Suji De Silva: MIPS
- Needham & Co. – Rich Valera: Cadence, Magma, Mentor, Synopsys, Virage
- Noble Financial – Gary Mobley: MIPS
- RBC Capital – Mahesh Sanganeria: Cadence, PDF Solutions, Synopsys, Xilinx, Altera
The three analysts for MIPS don’t cover anyone else in the industry so the more accurate figure may be 7: Ed’s answer checks out. Also at this time MIPS and PDF Solutions are not listed as exhibitors for DAC 47.
There is an interaction between poor financial performance and lack of analyst coverage, but in three years the number of analysts covering EDA has effectively been cut in half. There have been no new IPO’s and a number of notable VC-backed firms that simply ceased operations without being acquired: Athena Design, Golden Gate Technology, Liga, Silicon Design Systems, and Tera to name a few. Reshape raised $31M and sold assets to Magma but no employees were hired. Daniel Payne blogged about this last December as “Merry Mergers.”
Net net for startups: there are a number of factors that will make it hard to attract investment including six quarters of year of over year declines of total industry revenue and a loss of about half of the analyst community. The fact that investment will be harder to attract means that customers will be more concerned about long term viability and will be even harder to close than they have been historically. The “all you can eat” deals offered by the majors also make it harder to find a foothold unless you are well differentiated. The industry needs to re-think how it will cooperate and how it will compete so that we can start growing the pie again.
The last revolution in EDA was in the 1988-1994 timeframe. Vendors transitioned from selling turnkey systems (e.g. CALMA, Applicon) to workstations (e.g. Mentor, Daisy, Valid) to software (Cadence, Synopsys, Mentor). Customers transitioned from gate level design to RTL based design (e.g. widespread adoption of Verilog, VHDL, and RTL Synthesis).
The last revolution in EDA was led by startups: e.g. SDA, Gateway, Synopsys, Viewlogic. It’s time for another one.
October 8th, 2009
From the EDAC website “EDA Consortium News” page the last six quarters of EDA Industry Revenue announcements (all numbers in millions):
- Jul-3-08: Q1/08 declined 1.2% to 1350.7 vs. $1366.8 in Q1/07.
- Oct-9-08: Q2/08 declined 3.7% to $1357.4 vs. $1408.8 in Q2/07
- Jan-12-09: Q3/08 declined 10.9% to $1258.6 vs. $1412.1 in Q3/07.
- Apr-7-09: Q4/08 declined 17.7% to $1318.7 vs. $1602.7 in Q4/07.
- Jul-15-09: Q1/09 declined 10.7% to $1192.1 vs. $1334.2 in Q1/08
- Sep-30-09: Q2/09 declined 15.8% to $1,125.5 vs. $1,335.9 in Q2/08.
Note that restatements mean that numbers announced for earlier quarters don’t match those in newer announcements and understate the amount of decline in Q1 & Q2 of 2008.
So where does this leave startups in EDA? In February of 2007 Rick Carlson, VP of Sales at Verific, wrote an Editorial in Electronic Business entitled “EDA Industry Needs Revitalizing.” Here are some excerpts:
It wasn’t long ago that the electronic design automation (EDA) industry was filled with boundless enthusiasm and excitement; the possibilities seemed endless. We were at the top of the world, attracting the best of the best and enabling great things, because EDA was—and continues to be—where electronics begins. Many, if not all, of the electronics industry breakthroughs over the last several decades would not have been possible without the software and hardware developed by EDA vendors.
Sadly, somewhere along the way, the EDA community lost its optimism and sense of mission, and it’s shocking. The poor reputation and industry-wide low self-esteem are totally undeserved, and it’s time that we climb back to the top. [...]
Let’s cull some nuggets of wisdom from [Einstein] for inspiration.
- “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
- “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
[...] Let’s use our collective imagination to revitalize EDA and move the industry into the next phase of its success. After all, it wasn’t all that long ago that we thought we were changing the world … and we did!
Mr. Carlson’s words, written in 2007, are even more urgent almost three years later with the last six quarters showing revenue declines in the EDA industry as a whole. Who is Rick Carlson? On the Wikipedia page for Daisy Systems you can learn that
Dave Millman and Rick Carlson founded EDAC, the industry organization for Electronic Design Automation vendors.
But if you read to the bottom of the “EDA Consortium Background” Page you see this:
1989: Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDAC) is formed. First officers are elected.
with neither Rick Carlson nor Dave Millman’s name mentioned anywhere on the site. I think it’s a good time to recognize their contribution and take some of Rick’s advice to start growing the pie again in EDA.
Update Oct-9: This series continues in “
Growing the Pie in EDA Part 2: As Revenue Shrinks So Does Analyst Interest.“
August 10th, 2009
I was on the “Tweet, Blog, or News: How Do I Stay Current?” panel at the 2009 Design Automation Conference. The panel was moderated by Michael Sanie of Maestro International and my fellow panelists were Ron Wilson, Executive Editor EDN Magazine, and John Busco, CAD Design Implementation Manager at NVIDIA. What follows is my notes and impressions:
New media in a variety of forms–on-line, user-generated, social–are affecting more than EDA and Semiconductors. I brought three magazines as props with the following stories on their cover:
This is a wave sweeping into the EDA tide pool. See these blog posts for some background
Michael Sanie asked the audience about their use of various social media tools, asking “how many….”
- Read Blogs – most
- Write Blogs – most
- Use Twitter – about half
- Use Facebook for business – about 1/4
- Use LinkedIn – almost everyone
So it was an early adopter audience. Michael also suggested that they consider using http://search.twitter.com to track recent information on hot topics and trends.
Ron Wilson characterized himself as the representative for “legacy media” who started out in the industry when the two primary vehicles for engineers to get information were print publications and technical conferences. Print media was viewed as a reference resource, with engineers allocating two to three meters of shelf space to technical publications. He felt that they had a “synthetic sense of community from consuming a common set of media.”
John Busco talked about the “fire hose of information” that engineers wanted to sip from as needed. He relies on the traditional print publications as his primary information source, he reads about 25 blogs using the Bloglines RSS reader and he also blogs at John’s Semi-Blog “sharing high quality news and opinions about semiconductors and Electronic Design Automation (EDA).”
I made three opening points
- My use of twitter is non-standard, I borrow brilliance from others by twittering quotes that I believe are relevant to entrepreneurs.
- In preparation for the Blogging Birds of a Feather at last year’s DAC, we counted 60 blogs, which surprised a number of people. After the conference I predicted that we would see 500 by 2011. Which seemed really preposterous to some folks who contacted me. This July we are already at about 220 and on track for 500 by 2011.
- I think individuals in the industry are going to maintain three professional profiles:
- LinkedIn: seems almost mandatory now.
- Blog: for many people who are customer facing.
- Twitter: given it’s rapid adoption in EDA in the last month it seems like micro-blogging will also be popular.
Ron Wilson observed that EDN uses blogs as a rapid publishing tool, to complement print output. He observed that increasing circulation, or what they now call “audience development” requires a brand focus and continuous investment. If you want folks to read your blog you are going to have to have a marketing plan.
John Busco liked to read blogs that have a clear focus and deep domain expertise, citing John Ford’s DFT Digest and Harry Gries’ “Harry the ASIC Guy” as two that were EDA focused. He noted that he really wants a firewall between personal and professional life, using Facebook for personal connections and LinkedIn for professional relationships.”
Michael Sanie enjoyed following Karen Bartleson’s twitter feed, calling her the “Guy Kawasaki of EDA.”
Everyone liked Paul McClellan’s “EDA Graffiti” blog.
I am impressed by the Hacker News model–which is similar to Reddit or Digg-as a way to share, promote, and markup common article and blog links to create a socially constructed news site. It’s a mechanism for shared surveillance on a topic area, in this case entrepreneurship (and other things of interest to hackers). It hasn’t made it’s way to EDA yet but it will.
There was an interesting question from the audience: “How useful is Wikipedia?”
- Ron Wilson: at EDN we decided we couldn’t site it as an authoritative source, but could use it to find authoritative sources.
- John Busco: Wiki model is a great approach to collaboration for project info, FAQ’s, best practices. It’s nice that you don’t have to know HTML to publish.
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