Silence in the Air

A Silence in the Air

by Peggy Aycinena

There's a silence amidst the noise these days. It's the silence that comes before change. It's the silence that comes before the call to arms. It's the silence that's born of the pause on the threshold, the hesitation before entering, the thinking before you speak. It's the silence of the day after the last tax season ended and the one before the next season begins. It's the silence at the interface between the past and the future.

Change is imminent in the EDA industry. We all know it. The leaders, the followers, the movers, the shakers, the investors, observers, critics, champions, friends, and enemies – we all know it. Change is imminent and the silence amidst the noise is all the proof one needs to confirm it.

People are getting older. And, a younger generation shaped in the mold of the last is not on the horizon. The younger generation is, in fact, not coming this way. They're elsewhere, headed elsewhere, thinking different thoughts, and honoring different gods.

The young men today do not want admission to a Golden Age created by their forefathers. They want to create their own sagas, their own legends, and their own heroes. It matters not to them who stands in the dappled shade of the afternoon sun today. The morning sun embraces the young and they need not concern themselves with anything that comes afterwards.

This place, this Golden Age of EDA, will not be re-visited. What has defined EDA since its nascent days in the late 60's, early 70's is as much about the personalities of the pioneers breaking new ground, as it is the peculiarities of the technology they helped to establish. Those personalities have been unique to the place and time.

The people who were young then are now older – gracefully (hopefully) making their way towards retirement and reflection, sometimes pining for the old days, sometimes railing against age and fleeting youth, sometimes as boldly brilliant as they were in the past – but never for as sustained a moment – and frequently trying to preserve the power, the prestige, the pomp and circumstance that their accomplishments and rank have guaranteed them until now.

But the future moves closer, and change waits for no man. Listen. You can hear it. Change is just ahead. Bend your ear into the silence and you'll sense the wind that comes before it. The slight stirring, the low rumble, the inaudible sounds that the silence can not make still.

Ten years from now, most of the men who lead this industry will be fully retired. They will be living on the investment income they have so carefully established and nurtured over the last 20 years. They will paint, or write books, or travel, or tend to grandchildren, or sit on boards, or sign baseballs, or attend symposia and receive honorary degrees.

Surprisingly, by then few will remember the names of those wielding power today – at least not explicitly. But implicitly! Implicitly! Put your faith in Implicitly!

The names of the Current Age will surely be remembered because of the ideas created and technologies fostered by the minds behind the names behind today's titles, power, accomplishments and honors. The accomplishments that define this waning Golden Age are immense and have contributed hugely to the current world – both to the dappled afternoon and the full morning sun.

Still, the things that will define the next Golden Age will be so different as to make it appear unrelated to the Golden Age now just passing, but the disconnect will only be an illusion. There is a path that's been laid down, non-linear and n-dimensional as it may be, that leads to the next place. To the next community of thought. To the next moment of creative confluence that, even more than in the Current Age, will span language, geography, culture, nationality and race.

India or China, Brazil or Russia, Mexico, Armenia, Spain, Canada, Egypt or Singapore. It matters not. The young are gathering, linking their minds across space and time, listening to each other, arguing with each other, nudging progress as they understand it, into new, as yet not fully defined directions.

System-level design, manufacturing-aware design, massively compute-centric simulations, materials which capitalize on characteristics at a nanometer scale, carbon-based substrates, ubiquitous connectivity, artificial intelligence, robotics, and organized thought. All of it, and more, beckons to the young. The young own it just as it owns them. It is the future. The next. The coming soon. The imminent. The goal. The forward thinking statement. The idea yet to be identified. The tomorrow.

This Golden Age is writing its final chapters. The triumphs have been profound, the battles apocryphal. But the final chapters are here nonetheless. Celebrate that you have been part of it, continue to rage against the change, maintain your dominance and pre-eminence and poise. But take up your pen and lance more carefully. There are fewer moments in your future than there are in your past. The young are moving on. The Age draws inevitably to its close. The shadows grow long. The world is being re-created anew. The silence heralds the next age.

You can not stop it. You can not be part of it. But you can rest easy knowing you pointed the way. Whether they choose to follow or not.

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April 18, 2005

Peggy Aycinena owns and operates EDA Confidential. She can be reached at peggy@aycinena.com