GDS II Online for TSMC

GDS II Online for TSMC
by Paul McLellan on 06-12-2014 at 4:00 pm

I just watched an interesting video of a demonstration at DAC of the eSilicon GDS II online quote for TSMC. Actually, it wasn’t so much as a demonstration as an interactive use of the quote tool using data supplied by a member of the audience.

The quote system works for TSMC processes from 28nm up to 350nm. The design the audience… Read More


Softly Defined Networks

Softly Defined Networks
by Paul McLellan on 06-11-2014 at 4:26 am

Software defined networks were a technique developed around 6 years ago. The original structure of IP based network scaled by using additional routers that would forward packets based on partial information about the network topology. Inside each router was a dataplane, where the packets themselves flowed through, and a control… Read More


Atmel SMART

Atmel SMART
by Paul McLellan on 06-09-2014 at 6:00 pm

I talked last week about the internet of things (IoT) panel I attended at DAC. One thing that is clear is that IoT is not really a market on its own, but nonetheless the fact that billions of edge-node devices are going to be connected to the internet is a real trend. One company that takes IoT very seriously is Atmel, since they have an … Read More


Mobile: China Rising

Mobile: China Rising
by Paul McLellan on 06-09-2014 at 3:00 pm

The mobile numbers for Q1 are now published. At #1 as always is Samsung, who shipped 86M phones for 30% market share. At #2, with almost half as much volume, is Apple who shipped 44M phones. Round here in silicon valley pretty much everyone has either a Samsung Galaxy or an iPhone so you don’t get any sense of who the other major … Read More


Hogan’s Internet of Things Panel

Hogan’s Internet of Things Panel
by Paul McLellan on 06-06-2014 at 10:50 am

Jim Hogan organized a panel on the Internet of Things (IoT) on Wednesday afternoon. The panellists were Randy Smith of Sonics, Bernard Murphy of Atrenta, Gary Smith (himself) and Frank Shirrmeister of Cadence.

Gary reckons that IoT is a Wall Street buzzword being used to get stock prices up. If you go to a series of presentations … Read More


Embedded Vision Summit

Embedded Vision Summit
by Paul McLellan on 06-05-2014 at 2:32 pm

I was a the embedded vision conference last week. Jeff Beir, the founder of the embedded vision alliance gave an introduction to the field. The conference was much bigger than previous years and almost everyone is designing some sort of vision product. Half of your brain is used for vision so it goes without saying that vision requires… Read More


Impressions of #51DAC

Impressions of #51DAC
by Paul McLellan on 06-05-2014 at 9:56 am

So what was the overall theme of DAC this year? Usually there seems to be some trend that is hot. A few years ago it was power, then more recently all the stuff associated with 20nm and 16nm such as FinFETs and double patterning. Those things are still around, of course, and there are new generations of tools.

One theme is that more design… Read More


Advice for Out-of-towners

Advice for Out-of-towners
by Paul McLellan on 06-02-2014 at 3:29 am

You are visiting San Francisco and you have dutifully read your guide book. Let me give you some contrarian advice.

See the Golden Gate Bridge. The best way is not to drive there or get a taxi, but to rent a bicycle (lots of places on that side of the city, try Googling “blazing saddles”) and cycle across the bridge. You can then go down … Read More


Everything You Wanted to Know About the Internet But Were Afraid to Ask

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Internet But Were Afraid to Ask
by Paul McLellan on 06-01-2014 at 5:28 pm

Every year, Mary Meeker produces a huge presentation (140 slides) on important trends in the internet. This year’s came out at the end of last week. It is well worth the time it takes to go through it. Here is the first slide, effectively the table of contents:

  • Key Internet Trends
  • Status Update: Tech Stocks / Education / Healthcare
Read More

Don’t Eat Rubber Chicken in the Best Food City in the World

Don’t Eat Rubber Chicken in the Best Food City in the World
by Paul McLellan on 05-31-2014 at 8:55 am

You are going to DAC next week. And you don’t want to eat a Moscone Center rubber chicken Caesar salad for lunch. But you lack local knowledge. So here are some places within a 10 minute walk (these are just places I like. Nobody is paying me to recommend them).

The food court in the San Francisco Center on Market Street between … Read More