IP Showcase 
Peggy Aycinena
Peggy Aycinena is a freelance journalist and Editor of EDA Confidential at www.aycinena.com. She can be reached at peggy at aycinena dot com. The Tate Effect: Confidence in Flex Logix Team & TechnologySeptember 22nd, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
When Tate and I spoke by phone recently, he offered the Flex Logix elevator pitch, and then focused on the company’s August press release. “We are like the ARM of FPGA,” Tate said, and then laughed. “No, we are not expecting to be acquired by SoftBank anytime soon.” “However, ARM was the first to successfully embed processors,” he said, “and at Flex Logic we are [doing that] with FPGAs.” Read the rest of The Tate Effect: Confidence in Flex Logix Team & Technology IP Theft: Cheaters & Chuckles vs. Chalk & CheeseSeptember 15th, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
Kelly said Synopsys earns about $200 million per year selling IP, and loses another $100 million to theft. Cheaters are a real problem, he lamented, and as Director of License Compliance for Synopsys he should know. Kelly did not have the floor to share these laments, however, until Warren Savage, GM of IP at Silvaco, opened the meeting. Speaking from the podium as moderator of the evening’s discussion, Savage said the real problem is the bumblers, those designers and companies who lose track of licensing obligations for IP that was either purchased some time ago, or was brought into the design effort on a data stick fished out of the pocket of someone who’s joined the organization through a poorly managed M&A. In other words, when Chuckles the Clown uses IP, often as not he doesn’t realize some monies are owed to the third-party IP vendor who created it in the first place. Savage offered this statistic: On an average SoC today, there are 150 to 200 blocks of IP, but only a small percentage of those blocks are actually paid for. Read the rest of IP Theft: Cheaters & Chuckles vs. Chalk & Cheese ESD Alliance: New members bring opportunities, concernsSeptember 8th, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
True, Silvaco doesn’t sound like an IP vendor until you remember that it just acquired IPextreme, a well-known player in the IP market headed up by Warren Savage. And Savage, now GM of Silvaco’s IP Division, has recently been named chair of the ESD Alliance Semiconductor IP Working Group, tasked with developing a common methodology, best practices for fingerprinting, and solutions for tracking and auditing IP. Meanwhile, C-Sky Microsystems brings its own unique value proposition to ESD Alliance. Described in the Press Release as “the first IP company from China to join the ESD Alliance,” C-Sky says it intends to actively participate in Savages’ SIP Working Group. This second bit is admirable, but the first could prove complicated. Read the rest of ESD Alliance: New members bring opportunities, concerns IoT: The Second ComingAugust 25th, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
The second wave of the IoT is about to start. In the first wave, there was little clarity about what functionality really mattered. Engineers were tasked with getting products out ASAP. Because of the uncertainty and rush, most first-wave products were built around off-the-shelf parts made by IDMs (Integrated Device Manufacturers). The emphasis was on getting things working, not on optimization. This will not be true in the second wave. CPSDA 2016: Part 1, Creationists RejoiceAugust 18th, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
Over the course of the day, 10 speakers expounded on everything from complexity to reliability, from resilience to resource management, from smart buildings to smart grids to smart cars, and threw in a large dollop, as well, of how to deal with those miscreants among us who see opportunities in the emerging world of CPS to do small, medium, and large amounts of harm to our fellow humans and institutions. Now it’s true, the thought leaders who spoke at CPSDA were consistently articulate, intelligent and well-informed. Nonetheless – even after 9 hours of intense listening, and quite a bit of caffeine – I was still not exactly sure what a cyber-physical system is. So let’s be creative and make up our own definition. IP Panel: What keeps you awake at night?August 11th, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
As background, consider that the massive amounts of IP involved in building a modern SoC may translate into IP vendors losing millions of dollars if their IP is used therein without proper licensing. At the same time, semiconductor companies also wrestle with troubling issues if their engineers accidentally reuse a core without proper licensing, possibly exposing their employers to huge liabilities. The ESD Alliance event in September promises to address these thorny problems. Moderated by industry leader Warren Savage – formerly CEO of IPextreme, but now GM of IP at Silvaco with the acquisition announced just prior to DAC – the evening’s two panelists come from interesting backgrounds. Remembering Mark Templeton: One of the Greats of IPJuly 23rd, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
Per the Press Release: “Mark R. Templeton, 57, was a highly respected venture capitalist in Silicon Valley who used his background as an engineer to foster scientific advancement. In his capacity as a director and board member of numerous tech companies and organizations, he was instrumental in driving growth in the intellectual property market through a combination of technical and business innovation.” Read the rest of Remembering Mark Templeton: One of the Greats of IP Kapow Wham Boom: Holy Acquisition, Sir Robin!July 18th, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
Holy All-Cash-Deal, Sir Robin, ARM’s been bought by SoftBank! For a mere 24.3 billion pounds. Read the rest of Kapow Wham Boom: Holy Acquisition, Sir Robin! Lanza Panel at DAC: Democratization is not Open SourceJuly 14th, 2016 by Peggy Aycinena
The session was titled “Daring to Move to Open Source” and was described thusly: “The emerging Internet of Things market is destined to upend that time-tested ‘advanced-node’ model, as developers opt for older, less costly process technologies, using commodity design tools and selecting proven IP blocks to quickly and efficiently assemble chips. As demand for IoT devices grows exponentially, might open source EDA tools and IP become viable, or even the winning combination that enables the low-cost design of an IoT SoC?” Here are some soundbites from the panelists. Read the rest of Lanza Panel at DAC: Democratization is not Open Source |
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