From the Editor

bryonmoyer7393.jpgThe EDA industry, when it finds time, is consumed with figuring out how to make money. It hasn't been easy, and no easy path is in sight. In a recent video blog, Cadence's John Bruggeman pointed to something that he saw in the iPad business model that seemed interesting. That nucleated some ponderings into the future of taking tolls, and that's this week's feature rumination.

We also have Part 2 of the Cisco/Synopsys article on managing the complexity of constraints. (You can find Part 1 last week...)

Thanks as always for reading. We encourage you to share your thoughts in the new easier-to-use comments area right below the articles; don't be shy. Or you can get a lively discussion going on our new FORUMS

You may have noticed a reward for the best, most insightful forum posts. We're giving another one away for the best posts in March, so get started posting.

Bryon Moyer - Editor, IC Journal


Industry News

March 10, 2010

EVE to Exhibit at Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association Conference March 15

Magma Announces FineSim Fast Monte Carlo – New Method for Statistical Simulation and Monte Carlo Analysis Delivers Superior Accuracy and Up To 100X Speed Improvement Over Traditional Monte Carlo Analysis

Saelig Debuts New features for Low-cost Oscilloscope

Magma Unveils Tekton – First Static Timing Analysis Solution to Deliver Fast Multi-Scenario Analysis on a Single CPU

Agilent Technologies to Display Latest Wireless Test Solutions at CTIA WIRELESS 2010

Evatronix invites SoC developers to its free technical 8051 and USB seminars in Beijing,China and Hsinchu, Taiwan

March 09, 2010

Pickering Interfaces Introduces new LXI High Voltage Matrix

JTAG ProVisionT - Now With Added 'Buzz'

Synopsys Galaxy Custom Designer Accelerates Analog/Mixed-Signal Engineering Productivity with Built-in DRC Visualization and Correction

Imec and Synopsys collaborate on 3D stacked IC development

March 08, 2010

Major new version of award-winning requirements traceability tool suite includes new and enhanced plug-in tools, features and interfaces

Carbon Unveils New Generation of ARM Models with Availability of Mali Models

Atego’s real-time Ada development system now available to military and aerospace developers

Imec and Altos collaborate on chip design and prototyping service

OSCI Completes First Analog/Mixed-Signal Standard for SystemC-based Design - SystemC AMS extensions enrich ESL design methodologies for mixed-signal applications

March 05, 2010

CMX Systems Announces SSL/TLS for TCP/IP Stacks

Forte Design Systems Ships Latest Version of CellMath Designer

March 04, 2010

Agilent Technologies' Advanced Design System Software Selected by Paratek Microwave for Antenna Tuning Module Development

Feature Articles

EDA Taking Its Toll

by Bryon Moyer

Cadence’s Dan Holden pointed me to his blog entry that pointed to a YouTube video that Cadence’s CMO John Bruggeman made regarding the iPad’s new role as gatekeeper to content. He discusses this in terms of what he calls “tolltakers” and relates it to the need for the EDA industry to find new ways to get paid for the value they provide. This got me thinking about what it means to be a tolltaker. These thoughts don’t reflect specific support or repudiation of John’s comments, but rather spring from those comments and go on their own from there.

It’s no secret that the EDA industry has struggled to find ways to be paid fair value for the capabilities it feels it brings to semiconductor companies. Here’s how I could summarize an abstracted annual EDA negotiation:  Read More

Attacking Constraint Complexity

Part 2 – E Soft and SystemVerilog Default Constraints

by Benjamin Chen, Krishnamoorthy, Srinath Atluri, Nimalan Siva, Alexander Wakefield, and Balamurugan Veluchamy

Yet Another Parallel Approach

PrimeTime Gets Multi-threading

by Bryon Moyer

Attacking Constraint Complexity

Part 1 Verification IP Reuse

by Benjamin Chen, Harish Krishnamoorthy, Srinath Atluri, Nimalan Siva: Cisco Corp. Alexander Wakefield, Balamurugan Veluchamy: Synopsys Corp.

IP Outlook

Cautiously Optimistic

by Dick Selwood

Threading the Needle

Imagination Technology’s META Processor Gets Clever with Threads

by Bryon Moyer

Grappling with Intuition

by Bryon Moyer


On the Radio

Agilent’s Approach to RFIC

by Bryon Moyer

Keeping Us in Stitches. Or Out.

Or, Everything I Needed To Know About Double-Patterning I Learned In Kindergarten

by Bryon Moyer


DvCon: Experiencing Checkers for a Cache Controller Design

Paper, slides, and code can be downloaded from
http://systemverilog.us/DvCon2010/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben Cohen (831) 345-1759
http://www.systemverilog.us/ ben@systemverilog.us
* SystemVeril...
Posted on 03/03/10 at 9:48 PM
by: SystemVerilog

Is effective constraint use for experts only?

This week Synopsys and Cisco showed some of the complexity inherent in using constraints in a way that keeps run times reasonable. The way they do this shows some reasonably sophisticat...
Posted on 03/03/10 at 1:13 AM
by: bmoyer

CoPU?

How about CoPU? (Co-processing unit)
Posted on 02/25/10 at 3:33 PM
by: ICarlson

IP great for small companies

If by optimistic you mean that IP is a growing market for embedded systems, then yes I share the same optimism. I also support the growth of IP because I have so much invested in it as a employee of a relatively small company. Small companies depend on ...
Posted on 02/25/10 at 3:03 PM
by: ICarlson

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