In the following video, Warren Savage, CEO of IPextreme, talks with Mike Gianfagna, VP of Corporate Marketing at Atrenta, about collaboration – with TSMC and the Constellations partners.
Mike’s dream is for “a vibrant industry with a well-defined quality metric.”
KNTV, the Bay Area NBC affiliate, covered a story this past Friday on how Silicon Valley is the nation’s mecca for startups. KNTV reporter Scott Budman contends that Silicon Valley is stretching its borders north to Oakland. Really?
According to a survey conducted by the National Venture Capital Association, San Francisco is the nation’s hottest city for tech startups, with San Jose coming in second. Oakland is ranked at No. 11.
As part of this story, Budman interviews San Jose EDA firm, Atrenta, pointing to Atrenta as a typical Silicon Valley startup.
With less than 3 weeks away until DAC’13, Liz and I asked Warren Savage about IPextreme’s and Constellations’ planned presence there. Warren is not only founder and CEO of IPextreme, but also head of the IP consortium, Constellations.
We caught up with Warren recently, and Mike Gianfagna, VP of Corporate Marketing at Atrenta (Atrenta is a Constellations partner), happened to be there. So, the two of them let us in on what Constellations would be up to at DAC.
Liz: Warren, what play does IP have at DAC this year?
Warren Savage President and CEO IPextreme
Warren: Change is slow, but IPextreme and Constellations are happy to report change is afoot and our workshop at DAC serves as a prime example of this. Together with TSMC and our Constellations partners Atrenta and Sonics, we are pleased to present “Driving Quality to the Desktop of the DAC Engineer” on Sunday, June 2 from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. This workshop showcases a foundry, two IP companies, and an EDA company working together—exactly as we do every day.
Why, then, is this the first DAC workshop of its kind? Why have the ties binding us together in the semiconductor ecosystem not been highlighted before? Perhaps the old saying, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” is the only explanation. At the end of the day, our customers need all of us – both IP providers and EDA vendors. We owe it to them not only to recognize that, but also to make their lives easier by working together.
The final word on the BIG theme(s) for DAC comes from Brian Bailey, Editor of EE Times EDA Designline……
For many people, the attendance numbers seem to be the number one issue on their minds this year. DAC has never been to Austin in its 50 year history and only once been to Texas. Yet there is, and has always been, a very large design community in that area, a group of people that have perhaps been overlooked. A head count seems to be a very unimportant number, even though it is an easy metric. But we are an intelligent industry that should know a lot about metrics and I think there are more useful metrics in this case, such as the number of first time attendees.
These two trend setters share their opinions on the BIG DACthemes in 2013.
I see two related trends:
1) More signoff activity earlier in the design flow
2) More focus on IP quality and usability
Both of these trends represent a maturing of design tools and business models. Because of the tremendous complexity that sub-20 nm design brings, it becomes more important to get the design right as early as possible. The tools are maturing in the earlier stages, and more designers are demanding clean reports, or sign-off level quality audits as a result. This is helping to reduce schedule delays and design costs – good for the industry.
Semiconductor IP is also maturing – both use models and business models. There is a growing focus on reporting delivered quality and robustness. This will allow IP providers that deliver the best IP to flourish. Also good for the industry. We’ll see an increase in conversations about IP providers collaborating with the rest of the ecosystem at DAC. Another good trend.
DAC is upon us….and in Austin, of all places – the island in the middle of Texas.
As it’s getting closer, we were wondering what the BIG theme is for the 50th DAC. So, we asked a few of our friends and colleagues in the industry. Here’s what a few of them had to say.
I expect DAC to continue to explore low power challenges, with much talk about solving FinFET issues at 14 and 10 nm. Then there is the ever expanding SoC and how to handle all of the challenges that come with greater integration and IP reuse. Finally, what’s DAC without a discussion of Moore’s Law and whether it will/won’t continue to define industry progress in the years to come?
Today we will hear from McKenzie Mortensen, of IPextreme, on print vs. digital.
McKenzie Mortensen
I’m far more on the fence about this topic than I ever thought I would be. In all honesty, I’m not completely sure where I stand. I’ll try to replicate my thought process below:
Pro Print
I’m a literature nerd in a very big way—BA English (Writing, Rhetoric, and Culture), MA Children’s Literature, life-long bookworm. I love books—the look, the feel, the smell, the different typefaces, the weight of a volume as I’m reading… it’s a sensory experience as much as it is an intellectual one. I have actually begun collecting antique hardcovers and rare picture books over the past couple of years. From hand bound antiques to glossy coffee table volumes, books are a form of art.
I suffer from a mild obsession with stationery and paper products in general, plus I am an avid paper-crafter. I love to scrapbook and make collages, and magazines often come in very handy for harvesting images. I love cutting up magazines and turning them into something new. I’ve done some really neat things with old book pages also (only from damaged volumes, of course—I could never kill a book without it being a humane death).
There are certain circumstances when I would not feel comfortable having a tablet with me. For example, when I’m going to the beach or hanging out by the pool, the last thing I want to take with me is my iPad. A cheap paperback or a magazine seems a better choice in a wet, sandy environment where damage is likely.
I have a lot of bookworm friends, and one of our favorite things to do is trade books. Until it’s possible to lend a book to a friend digitally, I will need print copies of my favorites so that I can share them with people I know will appreciate them.
Books come from bookstores and libraries, and if I could live in either one, I totally would. The atmosphere is simultaneously calming and invigorating to me, a heady blend of paper, ink, and curiosity.
Pro Digital
I thought I would always be firmly a print girl, but I run into problems when I travel; as a fairly quick reader, I usually need to take more than one book with me on a trip in order to ensure that I’ll have sufficient reading material. As you can imagine, my carryon bags have been rather weighty at times. I started using my iPad only for travel to avoid the 50-pound hand luggage problem.
The illuminated screen is great for reading under any light conditions without disturbing those around me (on a dark airplane, for instance).
I can download another book whenever I want to (well, provided I have Wi-Fi access). Simple!
I love that I can highlight passages and make notes easily as I read. You can take the girl out of literary academia, but you can’t take literary academia out of the girl, I guess! I developed a “study as you read” method during my education that I still apply to leisure reading. Such a nerd! Another bonus in this area is that I can easily explore allusions made in the text. I can look up dates and brush up on historical events, for example, as necessary. I can do all of these things when reading a print volume, but it’s not very practical when I’m on the go.
Reading magazines digitally affords me the huge benefit of “clickability.” If an article mentions a restaurant I’d like to try, I can instantly view their website and check out the menu. I can order products or seek more information without having to dog-ear a page and remember to look things up later.
I can bookmark things and save images with ease, and in a very compact amount of space. Like many crafty people, I suffer from a Pinterest addiction.
We old gen folks bemoan the passing of print, even though we (in truth) haven’t cared about print for a number of years – finding the true value being on the web. I think it’s more symbolic for us old folks than anything else.
In the wake of the closing of the print editions by UBM, we decided to follow up with the new gen EDA folks we interviewed last week to get their take on this turn of events.
First up is Hannah Watanabe, of Synopsys, with her thoughts on the news…..
Hannah Watanabe
My mind goes back and forth when it comes to the whole print versus digital media. Personally, when it comes to books, I prefer to have the print version. There is something about turning a page and being able to physically see and feel how many pages I have read and how many I have left. When I’m done with the book, I can put it on a shelf with all of the other books that I have read and feel a sense of accomplishment.
However, when it comes to magazines or monthly or quarterly publications, I much prefer to have access to a digital copy. Unlike books, which I tend to read at home with a cup of tea and a blanket, I find myself looking at magazines and other publications when I’m on the go. When I’m on the go (say waiting for a dentist appointment), I only have bits and pieces of time to read, so it is much nicer to have a digital version or a magazine or publication on my phone than the whole printed version shoved in my purse. So, in short, I think that it is a good and positive move on EE Time’s part to go completely digital. With the age of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, I’m sure that the electronic version has a much larger audience and reach. Of course, I do feel for those who are losing their jobs due to a complete migration to digital.
