In 2012, we will see a bigger presence from companies like Ansys and Dassault giving much competition to the big three.  Cases in point are the Ansoft and Apache acquisitions by Ansys. We thus might see further consolidation among the top EDA companies. To handle some of the pressure, I do believe the big three will once again realize the need for new ideas and begin to look further into acquiring new and cool technology earlier.

Jens C. Andersen
CEO
Invarian, Inc.
www.invarian.com