STARC, the Japanese electronic design consortium, has selected Orora’s Arana as the post-layout mixed-signal design verification solution for Japanese semiconductor industry’s next-generation STARCAD-AMS Analog/Mixed Signal reference flow.

Kilopass Technology Inc. Has announced record revenue for the third straight year in 2011. Driving this growth was increasing demand from multimedia SoC developers in Japan, China, and Europe for Kilopass' NVM IP to provide tamper-resistant storage of digital rights management security keys and increasing adoption of Kilopass Gusto for embedded code storage for small form factor consumer products.

During DAC last year I met with Jeff Jussel Senior Director of GTlobal technical Marketing for a new initiative: element14, a collaborative global electronics community from component distributor Premier Farnell plc. At the time he did not have much to show as far as real products for distribution, but he had aggressive plans. A little more than six months later, element14 is showing remarkable progress in expanding the number of products in distribution and, more importantly, a significant level of integration between its activities and the activities of its parent organization.

Mentor Graphics announced the February release of version 8.2 of the HyperLynx® suite of analysis tools offering new functionality for optimizing printed circuit board (PCB) designs, including 3D full-wave field solving, and integrated thermal/power co-simulation analysis capabilities. Analysis of today's multi-GHz SERDES channel interconnects-such as PCIe-Gen 3-requires specialized 3D modeling for accurate signal integrity analysis.

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.

Steve Chidester, newly appointed Head of International Marketing at Zuken, has written an article that deals, among other things, with electrical design. The bottom line is that this market is still underserved and that there are interesting opportunities for EDA companies.

Synopsys, Inc. has closed the acquisition of ExpertIO, Inc., a provider of verification IP (VIP) for industry standard protocols. The addition of ExpertIO's team of protocol experts and its strong portfolio of storage Verification IP (VIP) will accelerate Synopsys' delivery of a broad line-up of high-performance, easy-to-use, full-featured VIP that can help designers address their growing verification challenges. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Cindy Wilson, Marcom Manager, EVE

It’s only January, but EVE’s event calendar for the first half of 2012 is filling quickly. We kicked off the year with a presentation by Luc Burgun, EVE’s president and CEO, at the 14th Annual Needham Growth Stock Conference January 10. This was the first time we were invited to participate and we were delighted. From all accounts, his presentation was well received.

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.

The latest blog from Zuken reports on the company events in both Ulm and Hanover. Although the title of the blog calls the events "German Engineering Days 2012" this is really wishful thinking on the part of the author since the events took place at the end of October 2011. The blog does include a notice of the dates for next year that are worth remembering. The Ulm event will take place October 23-24, 2012 and the Hanover get together is scheduled for November 6-7 2012.