I’ve been following Cadence Design Systems ever since it was formed in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc. At that time I was working at Silicon Compiler Systems, soon to be acquired by Mentor Graphics. ClioSoft is another company that I’ve known about for several years now, mostly for their design management… Read More
“Data management tools? We use small teams doing small designs. Each project only has two or three designers. Everyone uses the same EDA tools. Why do we need another tool for collaboration?” Good question. If you enjoy frequent meetings and redoing work because someone didn’t understand the status of IP blocks, the answers may… Read More
Efficient collaboration is essential to meeting tight chip design schedules. In analog and mixed signal (AMS) design, collaboration has many facets. Design tools are usually specific to roles, and handoffs are numerous, especially when moving a design to a foundry. … Read More
Today’s profound statement: “don’t fall in love with your tools, figure out the biz process change first.” Mixed-signal SoC designers are having ample challenges with their design process and are in need of design management, but don’t want another tool to do it.… Read More
Enterprise design management can be summed up in one word: collaboration. Intellectual property (IP) reuse and the success of distributed system-on-chip (SoC) design efforts depend strongly on how well designers can collaborate. As time-to-market windows have shortened, the challenges around design collaboration have… Read More
In my initial look at ClioSoft’s design management system created from the ground up for the semiconductor industry, I made the opening case for managing and reusing IP across an ASIC design organization. Let’s for a moment say we agree on the need for an enterprise software package to do design management… Read More
Make-versus-buy inadequately describes what we do now in electronic systems design. We are on a continuum of design IP acquisition and use decisions, often with a portfolio of active projects and future projects depending on the outcome. Properly managing IP means adopting a build-borrow-buy mindset and tools capable of handling… Read More
I love getting a good deal, and free is always compelling, so how about attending DAC in Austin for free this year? Sound too good to be true? Thanks to the generosity of three EDA companies – ATop Tech, ClioSoft and OneSpin, now you can can attend parts of DAC for free by registering here. This is now the 8th year that the I LOVE DAC… Read More
Semiconductor startups are becoming rather rare in Silicon Valley, otherwise known as the cradle of technology innovation. In an era where social media and cloud-based software startups are sprouting in every nook and corner of the Valley, it is extremely difficult to get venture capital funding for semiconductor startups,… Read More
In the wake of increased global competitiveness and shorter time-to-market windows, there has been a renewed focus by design management on the underlying data management infrastructure of the design teams. An increasing number of systems-on-chip (SoCs) now have some type of analog, digital and/or RF modules, making it imperative… Read More
