Let’s face it, the semiconductor world has always revolved around Silicon Valley and it always will. After commuting to Silicon Valley from the East Bay (45 miles each way) for the past 30+ years I’m acutely aware of the traffic patterns and how they relate to the economy. With the advent of smartphones I can work or be entertained … Read More
Smartphone Penetration in Bali & Gili Islands
Whether you travel for business purpose or to stay for holidays in one of the paradise island part of the “Lesser Sunda Islands” like Bali or the Gili Meno, you always learn about mobile phone penetration. If you stay in one of the luxury resorts, populated by rich western or Chinese people, you probably don’t learn more than when walking… Read More
Business Models: EDA Is Software But It Used To Be Sold As Hardware
Business models are really important. Just ask any internet startup company that has lots of eyeballs and is trying to work out how to monetize them. It is a lot easier to get people to use something for free, much harder to get people to pay for something especially when they don’t value it much. Different companies that look… Read More
Synopsys Did 90% of Business From Backlog with A Deal Length of 2.5 Years. Err…What Does That Mean?
Here is Trac Pham, Synopsys CFO, from last weeks earnings call:Greater than 90% of Q3 revenue came from beginning of quarter backlog…the weighted average duration of our renewable customer license commitments was about 2.5 years, and we expect duration for the full year to be about 2.7 years.
What does that mean? Why does… Read More
My Experience with the Ultra Thin 2015 MacBook
Before we left for our 5 week trip to Europe I decided that I would need a real laptop computer on the road. I knew it would be a near necessity for booking hotels and making train reservations. Also, I would need to write emails and maybe even pay some online bills. I already have an iPad but really wanted to be able to run all my applications… Read More
Older Nodes Get New Life With Ultra Low Power Variants for IoT
Ever since I can remember, and I’ve been in EDA since the early 80’s, new process development has largely focused on the latest nodes. Trailing nodes were quickly put into support mode. New nodes benefited the most from static and dynamic voltage reduction efforts, as well as improvements in flows and performance. Only a small number… Read More
My Tryst with Semiconductors and EDA
Yes, today I realize it feels like a tryst with semiconductors. In actual meaning; it wasn’t a love affair with semiconductors, but I must say the greatest thing it taught me about how it approaches towards perfection. And that became the guiding principle in my life; how can I do something better. Of course nothing is perfect in life… Read More
Seeing Firsthand How the Internet has Changed Traveling
We hear a lot of talk about the internet improving our lives, but most of the time this translates into time spent on FaceBook, shopping on Amazon or other distractions. However, on our just completed trip to Europe I discovered how mobile internet connectivity can transform the experience of traveling.
At home when I drive places… Read More
My Top Ten Regrets if I were Dying?
As birthday #55 rapidly approaches I say to myself: Self, if I were dying what would be my regrets? The first thing I did was ask The Google because I’m not coming up with anything really interesting myself. Also, it really isn’t a pressing problem for me as my life expectancy has increased quite a bit over the last 30 years, or so I’m told.… Read More
My Candid Conversation with Karen Bartleson
If you don’t know about Karen Bartleson, before I get into details, let me tell you that she was the President of IEEE-SA for the past 2 years and has been nominated by the IEEE Board of Directors as one of the candidates for IEEE President-Elect for 2016. The IEEE is an organization I admire as it plays a key role in advancing technology… Read More
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