Author Archives: paulmcl

Guest Blog: Isadore Katz

Posted on February 8, 2009 by paulmcl

Today’s guest blog is from Isadore Katz, CEO of CLK Design Automation. He has been in EDA for 20 years at Chrysalis, Cadence, Metasoft (Hspice) and even escaping EDA for a time as CEO of Lightchip before the gravitational pull of … Continue reading →

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He who goes first loses

Posted on February 6, 2009 by paulmcl

Earlier we had guest blog entries from Lauro Rizzatti of EVE and Chi-Ping Hsu of Cadence on whether innovation occurs in small or large companies. I’ve always maintained that the problem is a different one. I think it is clear … Continue reading →

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Semiconductor is not EDA

Posted on February 5, 2009 by paulmcl

Executives from semiconductor companies regularly arrive in EDA companies convinced that their years of experience as customers mean that they understand the EDA business. Software people just need some of the discipline of semiconductor design, which the executive has plenty … Continue reading →

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Ferrari vs Formula-1

Posted on February 4, 2009 by paulmcl

It used to be received wisdom that the way to get a good design flow was for a semiconductor company to purchase best-in-class point tools and then integrate them together themselves. I think there were two reasons for this. First, … Continue reading →

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The arrogance of ESL

Posted on February 3, 2009 by paulmcl

ESL, or electronic system level design, is a catchall term for tools above the level of RTL. There are two primary aspects to this: synthesis and verification of IC designs from representations higher than RTL (usually untimed C or System-C); … Continue reading →

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Groundhog day

Posted on February 2, 2009 by paulmcl

It’s Groundhog Day today. You’ve probably seen the movie Groundhog Day (netflix) in which the Bill Murray self-centered weatherman character is stuck in a time warp, waking up every morning to exactly the same day until, after re-examining his life, … Continue reading →

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“The tragedy of the commons” and EDA

Posted on January 30, 2009 by paulmcl

The tragedy of the commons is an article published in Science magazine in 1968 by Garrett Hardin. It has since become very well known and is applicable widely when resources are shared without a market. The canonical example is common … Continue reading →

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Venture capital for your grandmother

Posted on January 29, 2009 by paulmcl

Like many of us in Silicon Valley, I often encounter people (hi Dad!) who don’t understand venture capital. I don’t mean all the details, I mean just the basic way investment is done in a startup. Often, even employees in … Continue reading →

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Guest blog: Chi-Ping Hsu

Posted on January 28, 2009 by paulmcl

Our second guest blog comes from Chi-Ping Hsu, who is senior VP of R&D for the implementation group at Cadence. Chi-Ping echoes Joy’s law that it is the people that are important and that innovation may be found anywhere, not … Continue reading →

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Guest blog: Lauro Rizzatti

Posted on January 28, 2009 by paulmcl

Today’s we have two guest blogs. First Lauro Rizzatti, who is general manager of EVE-USA, an emulation company. Despite his Italian name, Lauro is the US manager of a French-based emulation company. He takes a look at whether small or … Continue reading →

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