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Data Outgrowing Datacenter Performance

Data Outgrowing Datacenter Performance
by Paul McLellan on 02-10-2014 at 1:13 pm

Last week I attended the Linley Datacenter Conference. This is not the conference on mobile which is not until April. However, a lot of the growth in datacenter is driven by mobile, with the increasing dominance of the model where data is accessed by smartphones but a lot of the backend computing and datastorage is in the cloud.

From… Read More


Update on AMS Verification at DVcon

Update on AMS Verification at DVcon
by Daniel Payne on 02-09-2014 at 7:35 pm

Digital verification of SoCs is a well-understood topic and there’s a complete methodology to support it, along with many EDA vendor tools. On the AMS (Analog Mixed-Signal) side of the design world life is not so easy, mostly because there are no clear standards to follow.

To gain some clarity into AMS verification I spoke… Read More


TI – The Initial Innovator of Semiconductor ICs

TI – The Initial Innovator of Semiconductor ICs
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-09-2014 at 9:00 am


[TI’s China Foundry acquired from SMIC]

During my engineering graduation, electronic design courses and mini-projects, the ICs I used to come across were SN 7400 series from Texas Instrumentsthat covered a large range of devices from basic gates and flip-flops to counters, registers, memories, ALUs, system controllers, and… Read More


Has LinkedIn Jumped the Shark?

Has LinkedIn Jumped the Shark?
by Daniel Nenni on 02-08-2014 at 11:00 am

LinkedIn is without a doubt the number one social network for semiconductor professionals. Based on my experience, the big LinkedIn boom came with the massive unemployment during the Great Recession of 2009. In my estimate, unemployment was 12%+ at the high point in Silicon Valley and resumes clogged the internet with LinkedIn… Read More


Who Won the DesignVision Awards at DesignCon this year?

Who Won the DesignVision Awards at DesignCon this year?
by Daniel Payne on 02-07-2014 at 7:37 pm

The Seattle Seahawks had an awesome victory in the SuperBowl against the Denver Broncos, so folks living here in the Pacific Northwest are feeling proud and optimistic. The recent DesignConconference and exhibit ended 10 days ago and there were also victors announced in terms of the annual DesignVision awards that have three … Read More


What does a 52% increase in DSP IP core licensing means?

What does a 52% increase in DSP IP core licensing means?
by Eric Esteve on 02-07-2014 at 11:18 am

The future market performance for an IP vendor licensing an IP based on a model with upfront fee plus royalties can be easily and safely evaluated if you look at the first part of revenue: upfront fee. Even if the royalty part is declining, exhibiting a 52% increase (Q4 2013 to Q4 2012) in upfront licensing fee is a promise that the future… Read More


Verification Execution: When will we get it right?

Verification Execution: When will we get it right?
by Daniel Payne on 02-06-2014 at 7:50 pm

Verification technologist Hemendra Talesaraattended a conference in Austin and asked me to post this article on verification execution for him as a blog. I first met Hemendra when he worked at XtremeEDA, and now he works at Synapse Design Automation – a design services company.
“In theory there is no difference between … Read More


Verification Execution: When will we get it right?

Verification Execution: When will we get it right?
by Daniel Payne on 02-06-2014 at 7:50 pm

Verification technologist Hemendra Talesaraattended a conference in Austin and asked me to post this article on verification execution for him as a blog. I first met Hemendra when he worked at XtremeEDA, and now he works at Synapse Design Automation – a design services company.
“In theory there is no difference between … Read More


SoC Verification Closure Pushes New Paradigms

SoC Verification Closure Pushes New Paradigms
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-06-2014 at 10:00 am

In the current decade of SoCs, semiconductor design size and complexity has grown by unprecedented scale in terms of gate density, number of IPs, memory blocks, analog and digital content and so on; and yet expected to increase further by many folds. Given that level of design, it’s imperative that SoC verification challenge has… Read More


Cadence Acquires Forte

Cadence Acquires Forte
by Paul McLellan on 02-05-2014 at 4:46 pm


Cadence today announced that it is acquiring Forte Design Systems. Forte was the earliest of the high-level synthesis (HLS) companies. There were earlier products. Synopsys had Behavioral Compiler and Cadence had a product whose name I forget (Visual Architect?), but both products were too early and were canceled. Cadence … Read More