** DesignCon DesignVision Award Winners **

The Award Winners in this first annual competition were announced on February 1st in Santa Clara. Here are the winners in each cateogry.

ASIC & IC Design Tools

* Cadence Design Systems for First Encounter Global Physical Synthesis
* Synplicity for the Amplify Family of Structured/Platform ASIC Synthesis products

Design Verification Tools

* Novas for the Verdi Behavior-based Debugging System
* Synopsys for the Magellan Hybrid Formal Verification Tool

FPGA & PLD Design Tools

* Xilinx for Platform Studio

Industry Service

* Accellera for PSL Version 1.1
* VSIA for the VSIA Quality IP Metric

Interconnect Technologies & Components

* FCI for the AirMax VS Connector System

PCB Design Tools

* Samtec for Final Inch

Semiconductors & ICs

* Analog Devices for the VisualAudio Graphical Audio System Design & Development Environment
* National Semiconductor for the Point-to-Point Differential Signaling Architecture & Chipset
* NEC Electronics for the 90-nm ISSP Device

Semiconductors & ICs/IP Category

* Virtual Silicon Technology for Mobilize Power Management IP

Structured/Platform ASIC Design Tools

* eASIC Corp. for Structured eASIC
* AMI Semiconductor for XPressArray-II

System-Level Design Tools

* Amherst System Associates for the M1 Timing & Jitter Analysis Timing Software

Test & Measurement Equipment

* Agilent for the Infinium DSO80000 Series Oscilloscopes & Inifimax II Series
* Tektronix for the TDS5000B with Myscope
* Wavecrest for the SIA 3600 D Signal Integrity Analysis Solution

** In other news **

Aprio Technologies Inc. has named Mike Gianfagna to be President and CEO of the company. Aprio is an EDA start-up working in DFM. Clive Wu, previously CEO at Aprio, will continue as a member of the board of directors, and will now become the company’s CTO.

Gianfagna has 25+ years of senior management experience in the EDA and semiconductor industries. Most recently, Gianfagna was Vice President of Marketing at eSilicon. Prior to that, Gianfagna was Vice President and General Manager of the System Level Design Group at Cadence. Gianfagna also served at Zycad Corp., and at RCA Solid State, where he was part of the team that launched the company’s ASIC business in the early 1980s. He was also at General Electric Solid State and Harris Semiconductor (now Intersil). Gianfagna has a BSEE from New York University and an MSEE from Rutgers University.

** Aldec, Inc. announced that Quest Innovations B.V. is now a Preferred IP Partner in its IP Core Partner Program. Richard Meester, Quest President and CEO, is quoted in the Press Release: "Because of Aldec’s 20 years in verification, the IP Core Partner Program is a very good resource for engineers contemplating the use of IP in their designs. Designers interested in specific IP cores, or in simply researching what is available, can go to one spot and look at the types of cores provided by Aldec and its IP Core Partners. Especially Silicon Proven IP, for FPGA’s and Structured ASIC’s, is playing a more and more important role in SoC design projects."

Creighton Roethler, Sales and Marketing Manager for the Advanced Products Group at Aldec, is also quoted: "As system-level designs increase in size, we are seeing many more requests for verified IP, both for available cores as well as custom cores. We are pleased that Quest Innovations and their portfolio of intellectual property has joined our partner program, as this continues to add to the variety of high-quality IP for our customers to use in their designs."

** Emulation and Verification Engineering (EVE) announced that Venktesh (Venk) Shukla has been named to the Board of Directors for the company. The board also includes EVE CEO and President Luc Burgun, Philippe Granger, Robert Eckelmann, and Pierre Martini. Shukla, most recently, was Senior Vice President of Marketing at Magma Design Automation. Before joining Magma, Shukla was CEO of Everypath Vice President of Marketing at Ambit Design Systems, acquired by Cadence Design Systems (NYSE: CDN), and served in an executive role at Cadence. Shukla also worked at Teradyne.

[Editor's Note: You're not going to be tested on this later, but you should be slogging through this kind of stuff nonetheless. How else are you going to really know how things are going in the industry?]

** Actel Corp. announced "net revenues of $40.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2004, down 1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2003 and up 2 percent from the third quarter of 2004. For the full fiscal year, net revenues were $165.5 million, up 10 percent from fiscal 2003. Pro-forma net income, which excludes acquisition-related amortization and other non-recurring items, was $0.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2004 compared with $3.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2003 and $1.2 million for the third quarter of 2004. Pro-forma earnings were $0.03 per diluted share compared with $0.11 for the fourth quarter of 2003 and $0.05 for the third quarter of 2004. Pro-forma net income was $8.2 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, for the 2004 fiscal year compared with $8.5 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, for the 2003 fiscal year. Including all amortization and other costs in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Actel reported a net loss of $3.2 million, or ($0.12) per share, for the fourth quarter of 2004 compared with net income of $2.3 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2003 and $0.5 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2004. Net income in accordance with GAAP was $2.4 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for the 2004 fiscal year compared with $6.2 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for the 2003 fiscal year."

** Cadence Design Systems reported "strong results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2004. Fourth quarter revenues were $343 million, compared to $311 million for the same period last year. Full year revenues totaled $1.20 billion, an increase of 7 percent over 2003 total revenues of $1.12 billion. On a GAAP basis, Cadence recognized net income of $60 million, or $0.20 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2004, compared to net income of $15 million, or $0.05 per share, in the same period last year. On a full year basis, Cadence net income for 2004 was $74 million, or $0.25 per share, compared to a net loss of $18 million and a diluted net loss per share of ($0.07) for the year 2003."

Bill Porter, Cadence Senior Vice President and CFO is quoted in the Press Release: "I'm proud of our strong balance sheet and especially pleased with our cash generation, highlighted by $371 million in operating cash flow for 2004."

Mike Fister, Cadence President and CEO, is also quoted: "Cadence continued its consistent execution, in a challenging marketplace. Strong demand for wireless, consumer electronics and high-performance computing plays to our specific strengths in analog mixed-signal and low-power digital design … This quarter's performance culminates a strong year for Cadence. Due to time-to-market pressures and the increased complexity of semiconductors, customers are increasingly turning to Cadence for an integrated, end-to-end solution across all design domains."

Please note that in addition to using GAAP results in evaluating Cadence's management "also believes it is useful to measure results using a non-GAAP measure of net income (loss), which excludes, as applicable, amortization of intangible assets and deferred stock compensation, in-process research and development charges, integration and other acquisition-related expenses, restructuring charges and equity in losses (income) from investments. Non-GAAP net income (loss) is adjusted by the amount of additional taxes or tax benefit that the company would accrue if it used non-GAAP results instead of GAAP results to calculate the company's tax liability. Using this non-GAAP measure, net income in the fourth quarter 2004 was $80 million, or $0.26 per share, on a fully diluted basis as compared to $65 million, or $0.22 per share, on a fully diluted basis, in the same period last year. On a full year basis, non-GAAP net income for 2004 was $201 million, or $0.66 per share, compared to $140 million and $0.50 per share in 2003."

** Mentor Graphics announced "record revenues of $214.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2004 driven by record bookings for the quarter. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter on a pro forma basis were $.39, and on a GAAP basis were $.20. Book-to-bill reached its highest level since 1996 and backlog reached a level not seen since year 2000. Bookings rose over 35% for the quarter, and 20% for the year. All regions performed well with Japan and Pacific Rim bookings up over 100%, Europe up 45%, and North America up 15% over the year ago quarter. All three product platforms grew during the quarter, with Scalable Verification almost doubling and Integrated System Design up 45%. Calibre Design to Silicon was up 5% over an extremely strong fourth quarter of 2003. Revenue by region for the quarter was 40% North America, 30% Europe, 15% Japan, and 15% Pacific Rim. By product platform, revenue was 35% Scalable Verification, 30% Calibre Design to Silicon, 20% Integrated System Design and 15% New and Emerging products. Special charges of $4.9 million were primarily acquisition and restructuring related."

Wally Rhines, Chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics, is quoted: "Mentor's growth in a sluggish EDA environment is being driven by the successful proliferation of our younger product portfolio including the Calibre and Scalable Verification tools, and newer printed circuit board design tools. Seven of the top ten deals in the quarter were renewals with an aggregate bookings increase of 40% over the prior deals, on comparable terms, including contract length. Customers need, and are willing to pay for, new products that solve their problems. Furthermore, we saw significant momentum from our newer, emerging products as we received significant orders in cabling, embedded software, high speed board design, and coverage-driven verification."

Greg Hinckley, President of Mentor Graphics, is also quoted: "While we see no sign of an upturn for the overall EDA industry, we note that Mentor and other companies like us with young product lines continue to perform well in this environment. With proliferation of our young, but well-seeded products, combined with a strong product pipeline in earlier stages of adoption, we believe we are well positioned to perform regardless of overall EDA market conditions."

Please note that Mentor Graphics says that per preliminary results of their Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Review: "During the course of the audit of Mentor Graphics' 2004 financial statements, KPMG identified a material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting related to the calculation of its income tax provision. PCAOB Audit Standard No. 2 defines a material weakness to be an instance when the design or operation of a control does not allow management to prevent or detect material misstatements on a timely basis. A benefit was recorded to equity for a stock option deduction that was not deemed to be realizable. Mentor Graphics then recorded a valuation reserve for the deferred tax asset that was created as a result of this benefit. The reserve was inappropriately established with a charge to earnings. Proper accounting was determined to be a direct charge to common stock instead of income tax expense. This error was identified during KPMG's annual audit of financial reporting specifically related to income tax calculations. The error overstated income tax expense and understated net income by $5.3 million but had no net effect on equity accounts. The material weakness was confined to a single erroneous accounting entry in the fourth quarter of 2004, was corrected prior to completion of the audit and as a result, did not have any effect on reported year-end or previously reported quarterly financial results. Mentor Graphics will finalize its evaluation of internal controls over financial reporting prior to issuance of its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004. The remaining steps in evaluating our internal controls over financial reporting primarily relate to preparation of financial reports to be filed with the SEC on Form 10-K."

** Synplicity announced "the company's financial results for the fiscal quarter and year ended December 31, 2004. Revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2004 was $15.1 million, a 14 percent increase from revenue of $13.2 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2003 and a 7 percent sequential increase from revenue of $14.1 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2004. On a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, net income was $803,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2004, which included amortization of intangible assets from acquisitions of $222,000 and stock-based compensation expense of $29,000. For the quarter ended December 31, 2003, GAAP net income was $445,000, or $0.02 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets of $227,000 and stock-based compensation expense of $76,000. For the quarter ended September 30, 2004, GAAP net income was $646,000, or $0.02 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets from acquisitions of $223,000 and stock-based compensation expense of $38,000."

"Pro forma net income was $1.1 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2004, compared to pro forma net income of $748,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2003, and pro forma net income of $907,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2004. Pro forma figures exclude the impact of amortization of intangible assets and stock-based compensation expense. A reconciliation of GAAP to pro forma net income is included with this press release. For the year ended December 31, 2004, revenue was $57.0 million, a 15 percent increase from revenue of $49.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2003. For the year ended December 31, 2004, Synplicity had GAAP net income of $2.2 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $377,000 or $0.01 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2003. Pro forma net income was $3.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2004, compared to pro forma net income of $957,000, or $0.04 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2003."

** Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced "revenue and net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2004. Fourth quarter revenue reached NT$63.87 billion, while net income and fully diluted earnings per share came to NT$22.18 billion and NT$0.96 per share (US$0.15 per ADS unit), respectively. For the full year of 2004, TSMC's revenue set a new record, NT$255.99 billion, 26.8% higher than in year 2003. Net income for the entire year grew 95.3% to NT$92.32 billion, also a new record. In US dollar terms, revenue for 2004 was US$7.65 billion, an increase of 30.3% while net income grew to US$2.76 billion, an increase of 100%. Fully diluted earnings per share jumped 96.8% to NT$3.97 (US$0.59 per ADS unit). On a sequential basis, fourth quarter results represent an 8.4% decline in revenue, a 20.6% decrease in net income and a 20.5% decrease in fully diluted EPS. Year-over-year, fourth quarter revenue, net income, and fully diluted EPS increased 11%, 39%, and 40%, respectively. All figures were prepared in accordance with R.O.C. GAAP on an unconsolidated basis. The 8.4% sequential decline in revenue in the fourth quarter mainly resulted from an 8.5% decrease in wafer shipments and a 2.9% depreciation of US dollar against local currency, ameliorated by a 1.7% increase in wafer average selling price (ASP). Revenues from advanced process technologies (0.13-micron and below) increased significantly in the fourth quarter and reached 36 percent of total wafer sales. Gross profit margin for the quarter declined by 3.6 percentage points to 42.5%, due to lower levels of wafer output, an unfavorable movement of the exchange rate, and the ramp-up of Fab14. Net margin for the quarter was 34.7%."

Lora Ho, Vice President and CFO at TSMC, is quoted in the Press Release: "Due primarily to customers' continuing inventory digestion, our fourth quarter business had declined as we expected. First quarter business conditions are likely to exhibit a normal seasonal pattern in the end market, and based on the current outlook, management's expectations for the first quarter 2005 performance are as follows: Wafer shipments to decrease by a single digit percentage point sequentially, Overall utilization rate to be about 78%, Gross profit margin to be in the range of 38% to 40%."

** U.C. Berkeley's Richard Newton gave a talk on February 3rd at MIT's Computer Science and Artifical Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). Dr. Newton's talk (see abstract below) addressed the role that research universities must play in advancing the quality of life on earth. In particular, he discussed Berkeley's CITRIS program, The Center for Innovative Technology Research in the Interest of Society. Reports from MIT say the address was "extremely well done and convincing."

A Talk by Dr. Richard Newton

"As we enter the 21st century, there can be no doubt that our world faces an enormous range of social, technological, and political challenges. For example, with almost 3 billion people on the planet earning less than $2/day, over one billion people still lack access to clean drinking water. If we want to stabilize global warming at 2 degrees C, we will need the ability to produce 30-60 terawatts of carbon-free power by 2050 – the equivalent of a large, carbon-free power plant every day between now and the year 2050."

"As daunting as these challenges seem, we must remember that individuals, governments, and foundations are capable of "great works" that lead to economic and social progress and improvements in our quality of life. Examples in the 20th century include Andrew Carnegie’s decision to fund public libraries, the GI Bill, the Marshall Plan, the eradication of smallpox, and the Green Revolution."

"Throughout history, the major research universities in the world have played a leading role in informing public debate, identifying key issues, performing basic research that has led to many of the major developments of our age and, last but not least, educating our global leaders. Today, a growing number of faculty at major research universities throughout the world are interested in pursuing research, education and service that addresses the major domestic and global challenges we all face. As an example at Berkeley, this is reflected in multidisciplinary initiatives such as our Center for Innovative Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS)."

"Obviously, such an agenda does not supplant the need for continued excellence in individual disciplines and for basic, curiosity-driven research. In this presentation I will describe a set of candidate Great Works for the 21st Century and will sketch an outline of how the world’s leading research universities could collaborate to determine a global research agenda, to identify and prioritize the problems we face, and to develop a unique, international public-private partnership to tackle them."

** Grandma Jones' Blonde Brownies won 3rd place in the "Other Chocolate" category at the recent MIT CSAIL Olympics Bake-off. Excellent news!