When we last checked in with Methodics in May, Jim Hogan was interviewing its CEO Simon Butler for an ESD-Alliance hosted virtual webcast describing its trajectory and success creating a new market segment called IP Lifecycle Management (IPLM).

Plenty has changed for Methodics in those three months –– notably, it is now part of Perforce. From what I heard during a recent call with Jim, Simon and Michael Munsey, Methodics’ vice president of marketing, business development and strategy, it’s already making its mark within Perforce as a valuable and strategic resource. Methodics’ technology, they explained, is foundational to Perforce’s strategy to move into the IPLM space.
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Here’s some welcome news for our industry: SEMI, Cadence Design Systems, Mentor, a Siemens Business, and Synopsys are embarking on a joint development effort for a new industry standard protocol to be used with software license management systems to prevent software piracy.

The ESD Alliance is playing a key role. Our License Management/Anti-Piracy (LMA) Committee, which includes Cadence, Mentor and Synopsys as members, will provide program management and the framework for the partnership.

The ongoing problem of software piracy makes the Server Certification Protocol a vital and much-needed program. It’s also a reminder of the ESD Alliance’s fundamental ability to bring together leading companies to solve industry problems and reinforces the importance of the design ecosystem as a key element of SEMI’s mission to represent the entire semiconductor electronic product chain.

“Software piracy is a growing challenge and threatens to stifle innovation for EDA companies and customers alike,” says Nimish Modi, senior vice president of market and business development at Cadence. “We are glad to collaborate with the industry on defining this new standard to help further the efforts towards a comprehensive anti-piracy strategy.”

Under terms of the agreement, the partners will work to develop the SEMI Server Certification Protocol to address software piracy, an issue that affects both software vendors and their users. The protocol will outline a standard mechanism defining how every installation of a server can be uniquely identified, putting a substantial barrier in place against piracy.

“New technologies and solutions have enabled other segments of the software industry to combat piracy,” comments Arun Venkatachar, vice president of Synopsys central engineering. “It is time for EDA to be on par with the rest of the industry. This collaborative effort from both vendors and customers is critical for an effective anti-piracy strategy.”
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