People
November 8, 2005
Lots going on here, so be sure to read to the bottom because anytime anybody goes public in our industry, it's cause to celebrate!
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It's a boy
September 25th, which heralded the birth of Casey Carlisle Smith, was an historic day within the EDA community. For if ever there was a princeling born to this industry, this little boy is it. Casey's parents – Cadence's lovely Lori Kate Smith and Dataquest's omniscient Gary Smith – celebrated the birth of their son along with the rest of the EDA industry, who rose up en masse to say in one voice to Mr. & Mrs. Smith – "Well done!"
It only remains to be seen now, when young Prince Casey comes of age, if he will be working in Verilog, VHDL, SystemVerilog, SystemC, Ansi C/C++, XML, or UML. Given the child's royal lineage, however, many industry observers believe that he'll actually be working in something like ANSI ESL++ V6.0.
Surely by that time, a joint sub-committee with members from both IEEE (preferably from the CEDA Board) and Accellera will be working to (finally) finalize the de-facto language standard and the accompanying documentation in honor of His Royal Highness' 21st birthday.
In fact, and in anticipation of that event, our own Dennis Brophy has already offered to buy the boy his first drink – the only stipulation being, per the child's father, that it not be in an Irish Pub, but in a Scottish one instead.
Here's looking at you, kid! Welcome aboard!
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A 3-minute quickie
ESNUG's veritable Jobn Cooley is on the hunt yet again. This time his request is for a simple 3 minutes of your time to fill out his saucy survey about Synopsys, the company's tools and rivals.
Per John: "I'd appreciate it if you took 3 minutes to answer these questions about Synopsys vs. its rivals. They're mostly quick multiple choice and yes, I'll publish the results. Thanks for helping."
You all, of course, know how to reach John and you know how to find his survey – so if you've got 3 minutes to spare, give him a piece of your mind.
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Big Cheese
You would have had to have been at last week's EDAC Kaufman Award Dinner to know that the Guru of All Things Analog – Stephan Ohr – has made the leap from Publishing to Prognostication. Hence, he was the only guy at the dinner who got a ribbon on his nametag identifying him as "Big Cheese" (Gary Smith's ribbon said :"It's a Boy")
So, whereas in the past Steve was part of that lively stable of seasoned CMP seers, now he's a team player and Research Director at Gartner/Dataquest. Lucky Gartner!
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Book Club
Several of our Best and Brightest have been hard at work nights and weekends producing more Best Sellers for your Holiday Wish List.
* Applied Formal Verification
by Doug Perry & Harry Foster
It may not be a mystery thriller, but it's certainly a must own if you think you know enough about Formal Verification. (Here's a hint – you probably don't know enough until you've read this book.)
Covering everything from current techniques in simulators, emulators and FPGA prototyping to a wide discussion of the reasoning and implementation behind modern formal verification – languages, developing a formal test plan and executing a system simulation – the book is readable and accessible. If you're in a need-to-know state and you've got 3 or 4 hours of time, Applied Formal Verification is for you. It will serve as both a learning vehicle and an on-going reference and should be in your library if you work in the field.
* How Computers Do Math
by Clive "Max" Maxfield & Alvin Brown
Anyone of you within earshot of EDA Confidential should be encouraging your young people to pursue additional understanding of the world around us, and this book goes a long way towards meeting that goal.
Full of the kind of lively, animated discussion that Maxfield has mastered in his previous books, and complete with a "DIY Calculator" (a "virtual machine" in the form of a CD encased inside the back cover), everyone will come away from Maxfield and Brown's text with a far greater understanding of the registers, addresses, and data manipulation involved in executing arithmetic functions in calculators and computers. And not only are the explanations there, but the exercises to drive home the learning are there, as well.
The book's fun, highly informative, and full of vitally important stuff for both the technical and non-technical alike. And most importantly, as a special gift to those raised on the early HP calculators, there's a great discussion of Reverse Polish Notation that promises to bring back a flood of memories – particularly for those of us who are still happier working without an equal sign.
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Top dog
EMA Design Automation announced an award from the Rochester Business Alliance and KPMG LLP ranking the company as No. 1 in the Rochester Top 100. EMA says this is the second year in a row that the company has won the award, which is given in recognition of the fastest growing privately held company in Rochester, New York. Not surprisingly, EMA sales have grown from $3 million in 2002, to $20 million in 2003, and $31 million in 2004. The headcount has also grown over this period to approximately 100 employees. Good job.
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Best paper nod
Cadence Design Systems announced best papers and presentations from the company's recent CDNLive! Silicon Valley user conference. The best overall conference presentation – chosen by the Cadence Designer Network steering committee – was "IBIS Generation and Validation Methodology Using Spectre MDL," submitted and presented by Rom Bronfman of Saifun Semiconductors Ltd.
Other winners included Salem Emara from ATI Technologies, "Formal Analysis Using IFV for PCI Express Validation", Todd Westerhoff from Cisco Systems, "Things You Can Learn from an IBIS Model", Paul Bompastore from Texas Instruments, "Analog Design Collaboration and Configuration Management", Justin Coleman from Micron Technology, "De-Mystifying the CDF: A PCELL Developer's Guide to Better Interfaces and Easier-to-Use PCELLs", Chris Byham from Philips Semiconductors, "Bigger, Smaller, Higher, Lower, Faster", and Chang Suh from IBM, "ASIC Optimization and Design Strategy for Multi-Vt Devices"
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New members
* The Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) announced that its newest member is CodeSourcery.
Mark Mitchell, President and Chief Sourcerer of CodeSourcery, is bewitched: "As a leading developer of the popular GNU Toolchain, we're interested in making definitive improvements in performance on the kind of code that our customers run every day. Our customers – many of whom are also EEMBC members – have made it clear that the EEMBC benchmarks are one of the key metrics they use when evaluating compilers. We're very excited to be joining the EEMBC community and look forward to further improving our products and services by using this powerful tool." Trick or Treat.
* Open Core Protocol International Partnership (OCP-IP) announced that Jetstream Media Technologies has joined the organization. Jetstream is an IP provider for adding "advanced video effects to consumer electronic devices."
Ian Mackintosh, President of OCP-IP, is quoted: "OCP has shipped in hundreds of millions of units including mobile phones, camcorders, digital cameras, DVD recorders etc. We are delighted to have Jetstream adopt and endorse OCP and we look forward to working with them in the future."
* OCP-IP also announced that Temento Systems has joined the organization. Temento provides test, debug and verification tools for FPGAs and SoCs.
Ian Mackintosh is quoted here as well: "We are delighted at [Temento Systems'] adoption and endorsement of OCP and look forward to working with them in the future."
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New address
EdXact wants folks to know the company has relocated its headquarters into larger facilities located in Voiron, close to Grenoble.
Mathias Silvant, EdXact President & CEO, is pleased: "Since our creation, we have been experimenting continuous growth. Our new headquarters building has more room to accommodate additional hiring as well as our expanding training and services activity. It is centrally located in a high-tech activity area close to Grenoble, with easy access to the airport." Probably easy access to great skiing as well.
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New board members
The VSI Alliance (VSIA) announced new members of the Board of Directors and executive staff. Hewlett-Packard was elected to the Board and it has appointed Mobashar Yazdani as the HP rep. Gary Delp from LSI Logic was elected to the CTO position and will be responsible for setting and implementing the VSIA technical direction. Raminderpal Singh from IBM was elected as VSIA Vice President and will aid in setting and executing on VSIA vision.
Please note that the VSIA Board already has members from ARM, Cadence, Freescale, IBM, LSI Logic, Mentor Graphics, Philips, ST Micro, and TSMC.
Mike Kaskowitz, VSIA President, welcomes the expanded personnel: "As VSIA grows to the next phase of execution, we have successfully grown the leadership team, with a new Board member, our first CTO, and a Vice-President. The addition of HP to Board demonstrates the value that VSIA brings to key industry leaders. With Gary Delp and Raminderpal Singh now playing key roles in important positions on the staff, VSIA is in a strong position for strategy development and execution."
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New kids on the block
Rio Design Automation Inc. has "unveiled its plans to be the first EDA company to bridge the gap between the design of high-performance ICs and packages, and a chip’s integration with the rest of the electronic system. It is developing revolutionary "package-aware chip design" software to be formally introduced in January 2006 that will allow chip designers to make optimal tradeoffs between the chip layout, wires within the package and printed circuit board (PCB) connections."
Meanwhile, note that there are some heavy hitters at the helm of Rio including: Robi Dutta as Chairman of the Board, Kaushik Sheth as CEO, and Egino Sarto as CTO. We'll talk more about all of this next week.
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New business cards
* JEDA Technologies announced that Stephen Pollock has been named Vice President for Marketing and Sales for the company. Wise move on the part of JEDA!
Steve has been specializing in providing marketing and sales direction for early stage EDA companies. Prior to JEDA, he served as marketing and sales consultant to a number of emerging EDA companies including: Anasift, Beach Solutions, IC Manage, S2C and VCX Software. Steve was Vice President of Marketing at Real Intent. Prior to Real Intent, Steve was Vice President of Marketing at Design Acceleration which was acquired by Cadence. At Cadence, Steve was Director of Marketing for Simulation Products. He has also held senior marketing positions at HHB Systems (acquired by Daisy Systems), Silicon Compilers (acquired by Mentor Graphics) and Intersil.
Steve started his career as an IC design engineer. He has a strong IC design and verification background with experience at Texas Instruments as a design manager for calculator products and later as the IC design manager and product engineering manager at CalTex Semiconductor (sold to Fairchild Semiconductor). Currently, Steve is Chairman of the EDAC Emerging Companies Committee and is a member of the DAC Exhibitor Liaison Committee. He has a BSEE from Drexel University.
* Real-Time Innovations, Inc. announced the appointment of Supreet Oberoi as Vice President of Engineering. Before joining RTI, Oberoi was responsible for the development of Agile Software’s strategic product line. He started his career at Microsoft in the Multimedia System groups, then joined Oracle where he held various technical and line-management positions. Oberoi was also a founding member and director of Engineering for Trading Dynamics, acquired by Ariba. He holds patents in several areas including customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management and product lifecycle management (PLM). Oberoi has a BSCS from University of Texas at Austin and MS in CS from Stanford.
* SIGMA-C Software AG announced that Dennis Nye has been named Vice President of Sales. Previously, he was with Cadence Design Systems, most recently as Director for Northern European sales. Prior to Cadence, he was Senior Vice President at Celoxica, Vice President Europe at Viewlogic Systems, Vice President at Actel, and a Director at GenRad. Nye began his career as an electronic design engineer. He has a degree in applied physics from Brunel University in the U.K.
* Silicon Navigator Corp. announced that Bruce Eastman has been named Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and Dean Marvin has been named as Director of Product Development. Eastman was most recently President and CEO of Hitachi Storage Software, Inc. an independent subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. He has also served as a Vice President at Avanti, Silicon Architects, Quickturn Design and Cadence Design Systems. Marvin was most recently Director of CAD for the microprocessor design group at AMD. He spent 20+ years at AMD in various roles in product design, where he most recently managed the microprocessor CAD organization.
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Two minus one = a different one
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced that its stock began trading under the new symbol CDNS on Oct. 31, 2005, having completed the switch to list its common stock solely on the NASDAQ. Previously Cadence was trading on both the NASDAQ and the NYSE under the symbol CDN.
Bill Porter, Cadence Senior Vice President and CFO, explains: "We are pleased to have completed the transition from dual to sole listing. We look forward to enjoying a long and productive relationship with NASDAQ and with other peer technology and sector leading companies that are also listed on the NASDAQ National Market."
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Money will always make the world go around
Cadence Design Systems reported Q3 2005 revenue of $337 million, an increase of 12 percent over the $302 million reported for the same period last year. On a GAAP basis, Cadence recognized net income of $21 million, or $0.07 per share, in Q3 2005, compared to $20 million, or $0.07 per share, in the same period last year.
Per the Press release: "In addition to using GAAP results in evaluating Cadence's business, management believes it is useful to measure results using a non-GAAP measure of net income, which excludes, as applicable, amortization of intangible assets and deferred compensation, in-process research and development charges, integration and other acquisition-related expenses, executive severance payments, restructuring charges and equity in losses (income) from investments. Non-GAAP net income 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 Q3 2005 was $67 million, or $0.21 per share, on a fully diluted basis as compared to $52 million, or $0.17 per share, on a fully diluted basis in the same period last year."
Mike Fister, Cadence President & CEO, is distinctly bullish on his company: " We had great response across the board in the third quarter, including a number of significant competitive wins. Customers are buying from Cadence both for the depth and breadth of our technology, and our ability to deliver at an enterprise level."
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DAC call for papers
The 43rd Design Automation Conference will be happening July 24th to the 28th, 2006 in San Francisco. Plan on being there, but first plan on submitting an abstract for a paper, panel, special session or tutorial.
Per the Press Release: "Four types of submissions are invited: regular papers, special sessions, panels and tutorials. These submissions are used to create the DAC program that annually includes over 200 technical presentations. DAC 2006 is seeking papers that deal with design tools, design methods and case studies, and embedded design in 18 categories described on the Call for Papers."
Think Design Tools, Design Methods, and Embedded Systems if you're thinking of submitting something, but don't think too long. Actually, it's too late for special sessions, panels and tutorials – but regular paper submissions have until December 19th at 5 PM so you're still time if you're so inclined.
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Saving the best for last
Celoxica announced its admission to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the commencement of trading in its Ordinary Shares. Trading under the symbol CXA, the Company raised £6M ($10.8M).
Company CEO Phil Bishop celebrates what Celoxi describes as the first ESL company to go public: "We are pleased that the investment community has recognized our potential and AIM listing is an important step in Celoxica’s strategic development. The growing complexity of digital electronics combined with challenging and aggressive development schedules are increasing the demand for our design solutions, a trend that is predicted to continue"