Design Automation
Community to resolve key issues locally. This
Another interesting fact from the
aspect has to improve since more and more
state of the art and complex designs are
EDA Consortium indicates that
invariably going to be executed from India – and
this will necessitate access to various experts.
the semiconductor and electronic
Today, the world is flat. This implies that the
designs are global. The indispensable EDA tool
design industry is continuing its gradual
is universal. The issues that the engineers in Asia
face are the same as the ones designers in the
shift out of North America and shifting
US and Europe face, which means the design
Issue VIII 2009
challenge in Asia, is becoming heavier. All these
Eastwards! EDA revenues from the
square4
are important shifts that the EDA Industry will
.com
have to factor into their future strategies.
rest-of-world category—presumably
Thoughts and Suggestions
fueled by expansion in China and
As discussed in the previous paragraphs, the
EDA segment has played a key role in shaping
India—jumped 20+ percent
the electronics industry. Though it is the case,
today this industry faces quite a bit of
oasiasemiconductor
challenges. The industry can turn them into
.eur
opportunities and create the ‘EDA Industry Usually, the deployment is far away, denying key
www
Version 2.0’. benefits for the design community.
Innovations in EDA happen mainly through On the other hand it may be worthwhile for
35
smaller companies – mostly startups which help the EDA companies to adopt the IP Industry
in resolving a technologically complex problem. model. This will enable a thriving ecosystem for
These are mostly pointed solutions and after the development of key reusable modules, which
certain period of independence, are absorbed can later be integrated to create specific flows.
by the biggies. The environment should become The larger players in the industry can retain their
conducive enough for such vibrant startups. core technologies thereby differentiating their
Today, the VC community does not show offerings from each other.
much interest in this particular segment, since Rather than buckling under pressure of the
their ‘market’ is highly limited and specific – only downward spiral of the economy and focusing
Cadence, Mentor or Synopsys are there to buy primarily on short term cost cutting measures,
such innovative startups! May be the biggies EDA segment should look at creating the next
should step in to do something to keep the disruptive technology by continuing to invest
innovations alive. in R&D and looking at innovative models. Let’s
The EDA tools from different vendors have look forward to the EDA Industry Version 2.0
proprietary interfaces and APIs. It is generally to revolutionize the electronic sector further -
not possible to customize flows with tools from and sooner!
multiple vendors and prohibitively increases
migration costs. Can the EDA companies look at
adopting open standards which will enable
seamless migration of databases? This is sure
to make them more successful and also
make their users happy! The EDA Industry
should come forward to replicate the
success seen in the software industry.
EDA tool development is a highly
specialized area and requires the services of
highly specialized experts. Many times, close
collaborations with academic institutions is also
necessary. Developing a whole set of integrated
tool chain is time consuming and expensive.
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