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Discussion on 3-D Packaging Addresses Costs

Sat, 2012-05-12 10:49 — Gabe Moretti

In a commentary dated May 9th in EE Life that you can read at http://bit.ly/KbmGUc Andre Hassan of Kilopass casts serious doubts about the viability of 3-D packaging. The article looks at the practical obstacles in matching a memory die produced by a supplier with a logic die produced by a different one. Without a doubt the author has a point. Too often, especially from EDA vendors, we hear that the industry is moving rapidly toward 3-D and that the acceptance of the method depends only on design technology and, of course, the expensive tools that go with it.

Globalpress 2012

Tue, 2012-05-08 11:21 — Gabe Moretti

This was my third Globalpress Summit and I enjoyed it. This year marked the tenth anniversary of the event. There were a total of 46 editors in attendance, representing 17 countries. Twenty three editors came from 5 Asia countries: China, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Sixteen came from Europe representing 11 countries including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Seven editors from the US completed the audience.

Real Intent Helps Designers Verify Intent

Mon, 2012-05-07 07:56 — Gabe Moretti

A little over a month ago, Vaishnav Gorur of Real Intent published an article on Tech Forum with the title "Blindsided by a Glitch".
The article provides good design guidelines while pointing out that following the guidelines is not always sufficient to avoid downstream problems. The article made me think about how dependent on EDA tools some designers can be to the point of allowing such tools to introduce design errors that are justifiable given the algorithms and rules pertaining to such tools.

Awards Will Be Presented During DAC

Wed, 2012-05-02 11:47 — Gabe Moretti

It is that time of the year when to provide more luster to DAC, a number of awards are bestowed on worthy individuals active in either electronic engineering or EDA. Both CEDA, one of the DAC sponsor, has issued a press release announcing awards, and the DAC Executive Committee has announced the winner of the Marie Pistilli Award.

Can EDA Replicate Its 2011 Growth This Year?

Wed, 2012-04-18 14:26 — Gabe Moretti

Each quarter, the EDA Consortium publishes the Market Statistics Service (MSS) report containing detailed revenue data for the EDA industry. According to the latest information distributed by EDAC, overall fourth quarter 2011 EDA revenues increased 12.8% compared to the same period in 2010. Total revenue for Q4 was $1700.1 million. it is very interesting to me to note that the most authoritative research service covering EDA from the financial industry reports that revenues for the same period were $1.41 billion corresponding to an increase of 13% over the same period a year ago. There is clearly a discontinuity in the numbers.

DVCon: Breaking The Silence

Mon, 2012-02-13 16:48 — Gabe Moretti

NOTICE: The DVCon website was updated after the publication of this article. The Tuesday afternoon panel is now properly displayed to be one hour long, and Exhibits hours are also displayed on the right.
This year's edition of DVCon will start on Monday February 27. DVCon is the premier conference covering issues of functional design and verification dealing with subjects as varied as technology, techniques, standards, and methods. The conference is sponsored by Accellera Systems Initiative, the leading industry consortium that sponsors the development and support of standards for electronic design and verification.

A Look Ahead

Fri, 2012-01-27 11:56 — Gabe Moretti

Every January, or February if you are EDAC, leaders of our industry forecast what will be important and how the financial picture of EDA will be in the coming year. This year has not been different. I have chosen just three such forecasts. I want to highlight both non-traditional and traditional sources. Progress comes from looking at things from different points of view, and traditional financial analysis is much better than wild-eyed wishing. I could not resist, of course, from providing my own observations.

The SOPA Controversy

Thu, 2012-01-19 12:38 — Gabe Moretti

Anyone with a sliver of ethics would agree that stealing is not a social behavior to be supported or condoned. Yet stealing of intellectual property goes on every moment on the internet. It has become almost a badge of honor for some people to download music, movies, or other intellectual content for free when instead a payment would be required.

Hard Times Ahead for Designers

Thu, 2011-12-15 13:31 — Gabe Moretti

As I have already written more than once, the 20 nm process is introducing a new reality in IC design and manufacturing. This is just a preview of how much harder things are going to be at 14 nm. Third party confirmation did not make me wait long. A press release from Synopsys contained the following statements.

A Visit With Blue Pearl Software

Wed, 2011-12-14 09:49 — Gabe Moretti

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Blue Pearl Software, one of the emerging EDA companies in Silicon Valley. Blue Pearl Software was started six years ago with the goal of doing design analysis at the functional level and providing designers with control of their design from RTL through synthesis. Another goal as important as the first was to automatically generate timing constraints and allow the verification of their correctness.