Aldec packs 6 UltraScale parts on HES-7

Aldec packs 6 UltraScale parts on HES-7
by Don Dingee on 06-01-2015 at 12:00 pm

A few months ago, when the Xilinx UltraScale VU440 FPGA began shipping, one of the immediate claims was a quad-FPGA-based prototyping board touted as “Godzilla’s Butcher on Steroids”. That was a refreshing and creative PR approach, frankly. I’m always careful with less creative terms like “world’s biggest” or “world’s fastest”,… Read More


Ten Things to Do in San Francisco the Way the Locals Do

Ten Things to Do in San Francisco the Way the Locals Do
by Paul McLellan on 05-19-2015 at 7:00 am

DAC is in San Francisco, of course, and perhaps you have a day or two to do explore the city. Guidebooks will tell you to visit most of these places but there are much better ways to see them than they typically recommend. Follow these instructions and pretend you are a local.

1. Ride a Cable Car. But don’t wait in line for 45 minutes at Union… Read More


EDAC Game of Thrones: Bob Smith is the New Executive Director

EDAC Game of Thrones: Bob Smith is the New Executive Director
by Paul McLellan on 05-15-2015 at 7:00 am

Bob Smith has been appointed executive director of EDAC, following the retirement of Bob Gardner after nearly 20 years. Bob (Smith) was most recently the marketing and business development VP for Uniquify. However, he has been in the industry for a long time with stints at IKOS, Synopsys, LogicVision and Magma. He has even been … Read More


"An art can only be learned in the workshop of those who are winning their bread by it"

"An art can only be learned in the workshop of those who are winning their bread by it"
by Paul McLellan on 05-13-2015 at 7:00 am

That was said by the novelist Samuel Butler, but it is not a bad description of why you should spend the Sunday at DAC in one of the workshops that are taking place that day.

One workshop is on Design Automation for Beyond CMOS Technologies. Before getting to design automation, it is good to start with which technologies are potentially… Read More


Love IP Party at DAC 2015

Love IP Party at DAC 2015
by Paul McLellan on 05-06-2015 at 7:00 am

Once again there is a Heart of Technology event at DAC. It is the Love IP Party on Monday evening. Full details at the end of this entry, but first a bit of context. Heart of Technology was started by Jim Hogan who probably doesn’t need much introduction to anyone who has worked in EDA for any length of time.

I met with Jim, along with… Read More


Agile IC: All You Gotta Do To Join Is…

Agile IC: All You Gotta Do To Join Is…
by Paul McLellan on 04-24-2015 at 7:00 am

Back last October 1st was an announcement of Agile IC Methodology. As I said then:Today Sonics has launched the Agile IC Methodology along with several collaborators. The initial phase is to create a LinkedIn group to start the discussion.

See also Agile IC Development

At that point there was just an idea and a LinkedIn group. The… Read More


Grenoble Comes to San Francisco

Grenoble Comes to San Francisco
by Paul McLellan on 04-14-2015 at 7:00 am

The headquarters of ST Microelectronics is officially in Switzerland, but in many ways the center of gravity is in the Grenoble area. You may have heard of Crolles where ST does process development, manufacturing and more, which is about ten miles north-east of the city. As a result, along with the CEA-LETI and Grenoble Institute… Read More


DAC Keynotes: Mark Your Calendar

DAC Keynotes: Mark Your Calendar
by Paul McLellan on 04-03-2015 at 7:00 am

DAC starts in San Francisco on June 8th. The kickoff keynote at 9.20am that morning is by Brian Otis of Google. He is a director at Google[x]. According to Wikipedia:Google X, stylized as Google[x], is a semi-secret facility run by Google dedicated to making major technological advancements. It is located about a half mile from Read More


DAC: March Update

DAC: March Update
by Paul McLellan on 03-02-2015 at 7:00 am

DAC is coming up. It is already March. If you are in the EDA industry then it is basically three months away, which sounds a lot until you actually have to get everything pulled together so that your booth is ready to go on Monday June 7[SUP]th[/SUP]. Exhibit hours have been extended and now run from 10am to 7pm (only until 6pm on Wednesday).… Read More


DAC Deadlines: Action This Day

DAC Deadlines: Action This Day
by Paul McLellan on 11-02-2014 at 7:00 am

DAC is coming up. OK, it’s not actually until next June. It is June 7-11th 2015 at the Moscone Center here in San Francisco. But there are lots of important deadlines coming up for papers, panels and more. The 52[SUP]nd[/SUP] DAC will focus on five key tracks:

  • automotive
  • IP design
  • embedded systems
  • hardware/software security
Read More