Note: This is the first in a continuing series of blog posts about people in our industry who have creative outlets outside of their “day jobs” in the electronic system design ecosystem. If you are one of them, drop me a line at: bsmith@semi.org

It was a cold and blustery night. I readjusted my muffler and trudged through Boston’s East Fens neighborhood to meet my prey at the local dive bar.

I stomp into Bukowski Tavern across the street from the convention center on the edge of Back Bay. I make my way past the long bar with the regulars slouched in their seats nursing their Oh So Precious IPAs in a dive bar no less to a table in back with more elbowroom. This, after all, isn’t a casual conversation but a serious discussion about crime.

A shadow looms over the table as I check out the typical bar-food menu and wonder what a vegetarian would order …

… and there stands mystery novelist Ray Daniel, better known to our industry as Ray Salemi, who is balancing his writing career with his verification consultant gig for Mentor, a Siemens Business. The thought of debugging chips by day, creating mayhem on the written page by night amuses me as I look into a face boasting a goatee and moustache, befitting a hardboiled mystery writer.

(more…)

Yes, we’re listening. 

Julie Rogers confirmed it in her recent EDACafe blog post. Anyone familiar with the ESD Alliance knows this to be true and will continue to be so as we expand our mission as a SEMI Strategic Association Partner.

Listening is a large part of what we do. We are the eyes, ears and the voice of the design ecosystem to promote the importance of the electronic design ecosystem to the broader semiconductor and electronic manufacturing supply chains.

It’s an immense responsibility which means regular communication with the industry at large and specifically to you and your company. As the executive director, it’s my job to keep our corner of the industry visible and relevant. I do that through blog posts like this one and opinion pieces. We regularly turn out news releases about our programs, new members and other topical information. And, you will see us at many industry conferences and other events.

The ESD Alliance isn’t only about listening and communicating the electronic system design ecosystem’s value to the semiconductor industry. In fact, we have a series of ongoing programs, some that are as long-running as our 20-plus year history, all based on what our members tell us. We break them into categories that include market information, risk management, growth and efficiency, emerging companies and industry voice.

Of course, we are known for presenting since 1994 the annual Phil Kaufman Award for Distinguished Contributions to Electronic System Design along with the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA).

The Market Statistics Service (MSS), part of our marketing information category, is one of our longest running programs and recently celebrated 20 years as a service for our industry. Quarterly revenue data is collected from contributing companies and aggregated by an outside accounting firm to ensure no individual company data is disclosed. Members receive a quarterly report with up-to-date information and trends for determining total available market and more.

Consider the Export Committee, a part of the risk management category, a resource to member companies for risk management and avoidance. It represents all ESD Alliance members with a unified voice in Washington, D.C., on export licensing and compliance issues. The committee presents an overview of our industry to the classes at the National Defense University (NDU), educating students who are on track to be future U.S. government leaders on the workings and value of the semiconductor industry. It also arranges and hosts an annual NDU visit to Silicon Valley.

Another effort that’s part of the risk management category focuses on license management and anti-piracy. It works on technologies and best practices to help honest customers operate within their license agreements and prevent bad actors from cheating. Current efforts are aimed at developing solutions to manage licensing in the presence of virtual servers and host-id duplication. This is being done in concert with a group of enterprise users that provide review and input to ensure that the solutions are acceptable to end users.

Under the growth and efficiency category is the Interoperability Committee. It publishes a recommended platform support OS roadmap for all member companies and sets expectations with users for supported platforms, reducing member company resources and costs to develop and support a wider range of platforms.

Our newest initiative is ES Design West, an industry event to be co-located with SEMICON West 2019 West at San Francisco’s Moscone Center July 9-11, which we are offering as the premier event for our entire design community. ES Design West will be located in the South Hall and features its own “Meet The Experts” theater. An Advisory Committee of industry leaders is actively meeting to steer the inaugural event and an Exhibitor Prospectus is available West with exhibiting options and sponsorship opportunities.  Secure your premiere exhibit space by contacting Eric Rude at erude@semi.org

In addition to all of these active programs and initiatives, ESD Alliance members, including new members, become member of SEMI as well at no additional cost. If your company would like to join the ESD Alliance, please visit the ESD Alliance website to read about these active committees and our other ongoing initiatives. Or, contact me for more specifics on ROI or other justifications for joining. I can be reached at bob@esd-alliance.org.

We’re listening!

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