Beach Solutions announced the company is a new member in the ARM Connected Community, and as such it will now have access to many resources to help developers get their ARM-based products to market faster. Per the Press Release: "The ARM Connected Community is a global network of companies aligned to provide a complete solution, from design to manufacture and end use, for products based on the ARM architecture. ARM offers a variety of resources to Community members, including promotional programs and peer-networking opportunities that enable a variety of ARM Partners to come together to provide end-to-end customer solutions."

Steve Kompolt, Vice President of Marketing for Beach Solutions, is quoted in the Press Release: "We are excited about the opportunities the ARM Connected Community program provides. Many of the Beach Solutions team members have extensive experience with ARM products. We have a long history of working together and we're pleased to formalize the relationship."

HPL Technologies, Inc. announced that Synopsys, Inc. has acquired 6,239,128 outstanding shares of its stock. (That calculates out to be 19.9 percent.) Synopsys says it acquired the shares in a private transaction from a third party. HPL Technologies sells yield optimization tools for the semiconductor and flat panel display industries, and has a portfolio with products and services that includes: IP, data analysis platforms, factory floor systems and professional services. Not surprisingly, Cary Vandenberg, President and CEO of HPL Technologies, is quoted in the Press Release: "We are excited to have Synopsys as our largest individual investor." I would certainly hope so.

Emulation and Verification Engineering (EVE) announced the closing of a second round of funding totaling $7.2 million. The company says the new investment will be used for R&D, enhanced sales and support, and perhaps some future acquisitions. This round of financing is being led by Auriga Partners, Rothschild, 3i, a Series A investor, and Credit Lyonnais Private Equity and Siparex, who were both Series B investors.

Pierre Martini, Associate Director at 3i and now a member of EVE’s Board of Directors, is quoted in the Press Release: "The company has achieved tremendous results in sales, customers traction, high-level recruitments, and product development. EVE has consistently outperformed its development and sales targets over the past 18 months. We believe EVE is emerging as a category leader in the fast prototyping and emulation market."

Silicon Design Systems, Inc. (SDS) announced it has secured $6.7 million in new funding from Carmel Ventures and Infinity Venture Capital. The company says that first round investor Gilo Ventures also participated in this round. The funds will be used for R&D and various marketing initiatives. In addition, SDS announced the appointment of Jacob Greidinger as Vice President of R&D.

Rina Shainski, a General Partner at Carmel Ventures is quoted: "The SDS new-generation routing technology addresses the very difficult challenge of physical design closure, whose time and cost increase as feature size shrinks. SDS received strong validation from power and mainstream EDA users at [DAC 2004} and was highlighted by Gartner’s Chief EDA analyst Gary Smith. These endorsements reinforce our belief that SDS’ approach to physical design has tremendous potential for reducing cost and time to tape-out in complex designs."

EMA Design Automation announced the expansion of their sales and support channel with the addition of Cadware Southwest as the newest member of their EMA Solutions Partner Program. The companies say that Cadware Southwest will begin marketing and selling licenses for Cadence Design Systems’s OrCAD and Allegro design platform products in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

Sequence Design had announced an agreement to expand its presence in Europe by adding two sales offices in London and Stockholm, which the company says will complement its existing sales, engineering and support operations in the region. The Sequence European operation will be headed by Johan Gardelius and Micke Wersall, each coming to their tasks with 20+ years of pan-European sales and marketing experience. Sequence says their strategy is to build on existing European success stories with major customers such as Infineon and ST Microelectronics.

TeraSystems, Inc. announced it has been named the "2004 Semiconductors Entrepreneurial Company of the Year" by Frost & Sullivan as part of an annual award program mounted by F&S. Frost & Sullivan researches nominated companies, basing its awards on companies' demonstrated entrepreneurial ability, technological innovation and successful marketing. TeraSystems was honored for its technology and business achievements in structured ASIC design technology.

Ernst & Young announced two of their Northern California "Entrepreneur of the Year" award winners. The E&Y program was created to recognize entrepreneurs "building and leading dynamic and growing businesses." The competition now moves from the regional to the national and global levels, where it seeks candidates from 100+ cities and 35 countries. The final winners will be announced in November 2004.

Synopsys, Inc. announced that Aart de Geus, CEO and Chairman of the Board, has been named "Entrepreneur of the Year" in Information Technology by Ernst & Young LLP. The company says de Geus was selected from 24 finalists in Northern California by an independent panel of judges, and is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 national program.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced that Chairman of the Board Ray Bingham was named a winner by Ernst & Young LLP for their "Entrepreneur Of The Year" 2004 awards in Northern California in the Software category. Bingham was selected from 24 finalists in Northern California by an independent panel of judges. Bingham will be eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 national program.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. also announced that Ray Bingham spoke on June 21st at Stanford University Law School's Directors' College on the topic of corporate governance. Bingham was on a panel that included Simon Lorne, former SEC general counsel, now with Millennium Partners; Catherine Kinney, President and COO of the NYSE; Jim Ukropina, Co-author of "Handbook for Corporate Officers" and attorney with the law firm O'Melveny & Meyers; and Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO at Google.

As Google is about to unveil the most highly anticipated IPO in recent memory - one expected to net over $2 billion - Schmidt’s comments must have been of particular interest.

Per the Press Release: "Governance has become an increasingly relevant and often hotly debated topic in corporate America in the wake of a number of scandals involving companies such as Enron, Tyco International and WorldCom. Government reforms such as Sarbanes-Oxley, distrust of investors, and media focus has led companies to re-evaluate the role and responsibilities of Boards in a public company. Each speaker [shared] insights and experiences from their unique perspective. [The] session at Stanford [sought] to provide the audience with concrete examples of good governance practices that can be implemented at their companies."

Certainly a commendable goal, which reminds me of the "Good Management Practices" primer delivered up to attendees at this year’s Hacks & Flacks panel at DAC in San Diego. Several sage-like financial analysts on the panel offered these pointers for editors and PR folks in the audience to take back to the Manager Class in EDA:

1) Be a good EDA company.
2) Build a good team.
3) Build good technology.
4) Keep an eye on market opportunities.
5) Keep an eye on TAM

With this kind of cutting-edge advice as to How to Succeed in Business (by really trying), we should all expect markedly improved performance from key industry players over the coming year. A round of applause for those financial analysts who have shown us the way.