Game changers: New paradigms for future of electronic product realization

The Cadence Executive Forum, titled, ‘Game Changers: New Paradigms for the Future of Electronic Product Realization’, was held this evening in Bangalore, India. The speakers were Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO, Cadence, and Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman of Microsoft India.

In the opening address, Tan remarked that there is likely to be challenging next 12 months in the USA and Europe. It may also impact the Asia Pacific region. However, from an EDA perspective, there will be new design, as companies would be involved in designing next-generation products and killer applications. There will also be more consolidation, which will continue. Another trend is that the number of start-ups has dropped.

There are two main drivers — technology and market. The cloud is starting to present a big opportunity. Other key areas include green technology and power management. Video will be driving a lot of traffic. The impact on the electronics industry will be new product development, with the IP having expanded beyond processor cores, an increase in collaborations and a changing EDA landscape — Cadence is investing on its decision to deliver the on the EDA360 vision.

Some of the recent highlights include Cadence’s new software development suite that addresses the hardware-software design gap, expansion of the Palladium XP, and releasing the industry’s first DDR4 solution, which includes controller, soft and hard PHY, drivers, verfication IP (VIP) memory models and signal integrity reference designs.

He spoke about horizontal collaborations such as app programing interface, and  vertical collaborations, which creates differentiation in the end markets. It also engages foundries in EDA, IP, etc. As an example, Tan spoke of Spreadtrum achieving one-pass silicon realization for the first 40nm product. Some other examples include Samsung designing and implementing 20nm product, ARM and Cadence collaborating on GHz implementation of Cortex-A15, and ARM, TSMC and Cadence collaborating on the industry’s first 20nm Cortex-A15.

Speaking on ‘Consumerization of IT’, Bhaskar Pramanik touched upon consumer trends driving IT. These trends include the economic system of computers, natural interaction, data explosion, social computing, pervasive displays, ubiquitous connectivity, and cloud computing.

According to him, computers will adapt to us. They will enable computing interfaces that are far more easier to use. The key business requirement is to balance the user expectations with the enterprise requirements.

Xilinx stays a generation ahead!

Tom Feist.

Today, the challenge is all about abstraction and putting automation around it. Productivity is automation and abstraction. Tom Feist, senior marketing director, Design Methodology Marketing, Xilinx said that the company’s strategy has been about All Programmable abstractions. He was speaking at the ongoing 13th Global Electronics Summit being held in Santa Cruz, USA.

Today’s hardware design abstractions include accelerated time to integration, abstracting hardware. For IP abstractions, Xilinx has introduced the IP integrator. It enables IP re-use and time to integration. The Vivado uses multiple plug-and-play IP. Vivado IP integrator is co-optimized for platforms and for silicon, respectively.

Vivado IP integrator has features such as correct-by-construction and automated IP systems. Vivado high-level synthesis allows C/C++ abstractions. Xilinx introduced the OpenCV library, accelerating smarter vision. It supports frame-level processing library for PS. It also supports pixel processing interfaces and basic functions for analytics.

Mathworks has model based abstraction. The automatic C and HDL code generation is supported from the same algorithmic level.

Hardware/software partitioning is supported for Zynq-7000 AP SoCs.  There are comprehensive video, motor control and signal processing IP libraries. There are automated workflows targeting Xilinx platforms.

Xilinx is also working with National Instruments. The automated C and HDL code generation is from the same graphical syntax in the LabVIEW IDE. It automatically generates a hardware implementation to meet requirements, abstracting Xilinx tool flow. There is a comprehensive software, hardware and I/O platform for creating control and monitoring systems.

Abstraction evolution has evolved to system level abstraction. It is abstracting all hardware through an increasing layer of automation.

All Programmable realization empowers software and systems engineers. There is a common compilation environment for heterogenous systems. It consumes C, C++ or OpenCL and libraries with user directives. There is automated flow — the user determines the program modules that run on various components.

The Vivado Design Suite 2013 abstractions with IP based design, C, C++, SystemC and OpenCV is new. Mathworks and National Instruments system level design abstractions with new levels of automation is emerging. Xilinx’s vision has been to empower the software and systems engineers by extending abstractions and automation.

Round-up 2011: Best of semiconductors

Right folks! This is the last post for 2011!! Here’s a look at the good, bad and ugly, that the year had to offer in semiconductors. Enjoy! Happy new year, everyone!

Dec. 2011
Round-up 2011: Best of semiconductors

Video and mobility drivers for global semicon in 2012

Future materials and devices for power electronics

SuVolta solving power problem in SoCs across multiple CMOS process nodes

Global semiconductor industry keeps consolidating; 28nm will be stable: Dr. Wally Rhines

Synopsys acquires Magma! And, another one bites the dust!!

Nov. 2011
Lattice intros low power ECP4 FPGAs

Global semicon sales forecast at $329.4 billion for 2012! – What about this one? A well-read piece!

MEMS Executive Congress 2011 round-up

Global semiconductor market will be $313 billion in 2012: SSIA – It seems 2012 will pan out this way!

MEMS market overview: IHS iSuppli

NXP licenses Broadcom’s BroadR-Reach Ethernet technology for in-vehicle networking

MEMS devices driving healthcare apps!

Updated global semicon sales forecast 2011′s estimate falls $2.74 billion

Oct. 2011
DIT outlines initiatives to promote ESDM in India

Game changers: New paradigms for future of electronic product realization

Designing systems to thrive in disruptive trends!

Realizing EDA360: Charlie Huang, Cadence – Focus on EDA360!

What’s happening with ISA and Indian semicon industry? – Defining piece!

Altera launches SoC FPGAs

Emerging piezoMEMS apps and ion beam etch solutions for next gen MEMS and sensors

ESDM all over again? When will Indian semicon and electronics industries learn??

Semiconductor supply chain dynamics: Future Horizons @ IEF2011

Sep. 2011
India has restricted itself to only semicon design and R&D!

ST launches STM32 F4 series of MCUs

ARM connecting the world!

Renesas enhancing localization of products in India!

Magma announces Silicon One strategy

Need to work toward sustainable future: imec

Aug. 2011
Freescale launches first ‘base-station-on-chip’ products!

Semicon industry at inflection point of innovation: Rich Beyer

NXP launches CAN partial networking solution for automotives

Fabless fables and all that! Is India listening?

What’s happening with global semicon industry?

2011 global semicon sales growth likely to trend downward for rest of year?

Realizing EDA360: Charlie Huang, Cadence

Long-term trends are strong for semiconductor and electronics. According to databeans estimate (Feb. 2011), semiconductor revenue will likely reach $450 billion by 2015 and electronics revenuw will likely reach $2,800 billion by 2015.

Speaking at the CDNLive! 2011 event in Bangalore, India, Charlie Huang, SVP of Worldwide Field Operations, Cadence Design Systems Inc., said that the challenges in the near term are slowdown in Europe and USA. The weakness is driven by increasingly negative views on the global economy, end demand, orders and outlook. Key indicators are also showing that the economy is facing headwinds. The 2011 GDP growth projections have deteriorated since the beginning of the year. The economy has been marred by high unemployment and low consumer confidence.

As of now, innovation has been driving growth. Apps have been driving innovation, followed by video, mobility, cloud and green technology. The impact on the electronics industry is multi-fold. There is a new development paradigm and collaboration has been increasing. The IP is also expanding beyond cores and the EDA is changing.

Source: Cadence.

The new development paradigm for system companies is to differentiate on applications and semiconductor companies must deliver on application-driven hardware-software platforms. IP has now expanded well beyond the core. EDA is also changing, and Cadence is investing to deliver on the EDA360 vision. There are multiple silicon realization challenges. Cadence silicon realization solutions enable fast, deterministic, end-to-end path to silicon success.

As an example, ARM and Cadence have collaborated on the GHz implementation of Cortex-A15. ARM chose ARM Artisan physical IP, evaluated the Cortex-A15 RTL, and supported CPF. Cadence optimized the EDA flow, experienced support at EAC, and provided EDA tool releases and iRM.

ARM, TSMC and Cadence also collaborated on the industry’s first 20nm Cortex-A15. TSMC provided the 20nm process qualification and A15 learnings. ARM handled the 20nm implementation experience, A15 considerations in 20nm and TSMC 20nm readiness milestone. Cadence provided the 20nm research to reality, contributed and grew the A15 expertise and TSMC 20nm readiness milestone.

The end result: the industry’s first 20nm Cortex-A15 tapeout, thanks to a successful three-way vertical collaboration. ARM, Cadence and TSMC engineers worked side-by-side. The project priorities included 20nm DPT implementation schedule and 20nm readiness milestone.

Design-Lite — new model for semiconductor development: Taher Madraswala

Taher Madraswala, VP of Engineering, Open-Silicon.

Taher Madraswala, VP of Engineering, Open-Silicon Inc., presented the guest keynote titled ‘Moving toward Design-Lite for Innovation’ this afternoon at the ongoing CDNLive India 2010. His mission is clear, “We want our customers to find newer ways of growing their markets.”

Madraswala first dwelt on the EDA360 vision and the rise of the applications platform. He discussed Design-Lite — a new model for semiconductor development, as well as how companies should be using derivaties to extend their market reach, and the new design derivative ecosystem.

On EDA360, he said that the semiconductor product value is now shifting to applications. The shift is providing applications focused platforms. There are also evolving integration challenges in both software and IP.

He added that non-traditional semiconductor development tasks are being pushed to the ecosystem. In this regard, the ecosystem collaboration is critical for success.

He said: “Buying an IP is one thing, but putting it together to develop a product that can be of mass usage is quite another. There was a time when we could add value in doing faster chips, etc. Now, the values have moved elsewhere. Customers also want to change the way they deliver value.”

Madraswala presented the example of Brite Semiiconductor. Open-Silicon had founded Brite in 2008 to brring its methodology to the Chinese market. Yesterday (15/11),  Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) announced that it has acquired an equity stake in Brite.

Introducing Design-Lite
Today’s global economy develops complex systems in a new manner, with design visionaries partnered with subsystem experts and uniquely skilled system integrators. Further, globalization has created the mechanism to optimize every piece of semicon design.

Industry should enable key capabilities of EDA360: John Bruggeman

John Bruggeman, CMO, Cadence Design Systems.

Delivering his keynote at the ongoing CDNLive India 2010, John Bruggeman, CMO, Cadence Design Systems, said: “Everything is changing very rapidly in the way you never expected. That was Lip-Bu’s comment. Cadence’s EDA360 is a vision for the industry. EDA360 is a vision — a transformation is underway. This isn’t a vision for Cadence or marketing, but for the entire industry.”

According to him, the semiconductor and EDA industries have new and complex problems, and there is a growing need to come together to solve those problems.

Application driven model rules
Touching on application driven models, Bruggeman gave an example of his new TV, which came preloaded with eight applications, such as YouTube, Pandora, NetFlix, etc.

Interestingly, there was also a link within the TV on to the application store where one could buy up to 200 additional applications.

“This is very important – it is at the heart of the fundamental sea change that is happeing in the industry,” he said. “Users want apps. They want to take their devices and want to be able to cusomize those into doing things they are most interested in. Users want their devices to have apps and content that they can customize.”

The fact that one can link to an app store – from either a washing machine or a toaster — that’s the seminal shift!

He added: “The life expantancy of a TV set in North America is 15.1 years. Wouldn’t it be better if I got revenue once every month, or week or day? An application driven model means a continuous revenue model!”

Semicon industry must be prepared to face challenges in new era: Lip-Bu Tan

Day 1, CDNLive India 2010, kicked of with Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO, Cadence Design Systems Inc. delivering the main keynote.

Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO, Cadence Design Systems Inc.

This is a new era of an application driven platforms and products that have very short time to market. The global semiconductor industry needs to be ready and prepared to face and take on the upcoming challenges.

Talking about the global economy in general, Tan said that there has been gradual GDP growth, and that the semiconductor growth has exceeded GDP growth this year.

Healthy semicon industry
Tan said: “There is cautious investment as well as government engagement. There have been seasonal adjustments in the industry. I see 5-7 percent growth over the next five years. It is a healthy semiconductor industry.”

There has also been some improvement in major capital investment, especially in China and India. The IPO market has also been encouraging, especially in semicon space.

He added that India, especially, is coming up very strong. The domestic market has been coming up quite strong as well. “I am excited about the whole of investment over the next five years.”

Tan advised that various national governments are realizing that the semiconductor is critical, and hence, it is now becoming a significant industry. “China realized that they import more semiconductors than oil. India will realize this fact sooner, rather than later. I am sure that India will also mark semiconductors as a key area.”

On globalization, he added that all companies were now moving toward globalization. Some major companies, such as TI, ST, etc., have experienced tremendous growth in Asia Pacific.

On organizational matters, Tan expressed excitement regarding the amount of innovation and IT education happening in India. “India has all the brains and innovation. Now, the challenge is how to come up with products and market them globally. Tejas is doing very well, so is Cosmic Circiuts. So is Ittiam Systems.” The capital efficiency structure is also gaining in importance.

According to him, the M&A activity is also gaining in importance. “Some of the major system companies are moving into semiconductors, such as Apple,” he observed. A similar pattern was also visible with Oracle. “So, the system guys are starting to move into silicon. The next five years will be exciting as there will be a sea change.

EDA360 unplugged with Cadence’s Jaswinder Ahuja

Jaswinder Ahuja, corporate VP & MD, Cadence Design Systems (I) Pvt Ltd.

Following the announcement of the EDA360 last week, I managed to get in touch with Jaswinder Ahuja, corporate vice president and managing director, Cadence Design Systems (I) Pvt Ltd. We discussed a variety of topics such as why the EDA industry is at the crossroads, EDA360 unplugged, the integrators vs. creators concept, the IP stack and the road ahead for EDA360.

First, why is the EDA industry at the crossroads?

According to Ahuja, if you look at the evolution in the electronic design world, systems companies are finding differentiation and value through the creative, innovative applications or “apps” that are being demanded by end consumers. This is true not only in the mobile handset world, where iPhone and Android are obvious examples, but anywhere there’s a processor. Therefore, software is becoming a very important part in the scheme of things.

“Semiconductor companies are being asked by system companies to provide the hardware platform as well as the software that will run on that particular platform. That is the trend that Cadence is seeing today, and that is what is discussed in the EDA360 manifesto,” he added.

EDA is at crossroads because EDA companies can no longer provide the tools only for IP integration and silicon realization like they have been doing all these years. EDA now has to encompass SOC realization (including bare metal software) and then move towards system realization, which includes mechanical/board design, he noted.

EDA360 and its key features

As mentioned earlier, the EDA 360 is a five-year vision for defining the trends in the EDA industry, based on what Cadence is observing in the industry and the direction in which, it feels, the industry will go.

Ahuja said that EDA360 represents System Realization, the development of a complete hardware/software platform ready for applications development; SoC Realization, the creation of a single SoC including hardware-dependent software; and Silicon Realization, which includes complex digital, analog, and mixed-signal designs.

The traditional approach to system development starts with the hardware, and appends the software and the applications later. With application-driven System Realization, designers start by envisioning the applications that will run on the system, define requirements, and then work their way down to hardware and software IP creation and integration. This flow requires some new and expanded capabilities.

Part of system realization is project management. EDA360 reaches beyond engineering teams to help customers meet project and business objectives.

Key features of EDA360 include:

* Outlining how companies can bridge the profitability gap, not just the productivity gap.

* Explaining the shifts to integration and profitability.

* Software aware SoC realization, which includes an integrated, optimized IP stack.

The four chapters of the EDA360 manifesto take a look at:

Chapter 1: EDA Industry Focus Shifts to Integration and Profitability.

Chapter 2: Application-Driven System Realization.

Chapter 3: Software-Aware SoC Realization.

Chapter 4: EDA360 Enables Silicon Realization.

EDA360 to help integrators close profitability gap!

Cadence Design Systems laid out its EDA360 vision last week — what it says is ‘a new vision for the semiconductor industry’.

Cadence's EDA360!

The EDA360 vision paper says: “Today, systems and semiconductor companies are undergoing a disruptive transformation so profound that even the best-known companies will be impacted. The EDA industry now stands at a crossroads where it also must change in order to continue as a successful, independent business. Without that change, EDA will become a fragmented industry offering suboptimal, poorly targeted solutions that fail to solve customer problems. As a result, the huge leap forward provided by the electronics revolution will come to a standstill. The result? A squandered opportunity for technology innovation, and a diminished contribution by the electronics industry to re-build the global economy.”

You can download the vision paper from eda360.com, if you like!

What is EDA360?

Now, what exactly is the EDA360?  The EDA 360 is a five-year vision for acknowledging the trends in the EDA industry that we are observing in the marketplace and looks at how EDA can add value in the future.

The vision paper is essentially looking at where EDA should be heading over the next five years. The four chapters of the EDA360 are:

* EDA industry focus shifts to integration and profitability;

* Application-driven system realization;

* Software-aware SoC realization;  and
* EDA360 enables silicon realization.

Why is the EDA industry at crossroads?

If you look at the evolution in the electronic design world, application-level system design has been happening. Software is becoming a very important part in the scheme of things. The hardware companies are being asked to provide the hardware platform as well as the software that will run on that particular platform. So, this is an ongoing evolution.

The EDA industry to date has only served the needs of creators. It has almost completely ignored integrators, who need a different set of tools and capabilities. How can the EDA360 go about achieving this?

When one says that the EDA industry has so far only served the needs of the creators, It is only a reflection of the evolution of the industry. The fundamental manner in which electronic design is being done is now changing. While it is shifting, it also takes a while to understand the entire paradigm. The industry is also moving toward IP re-use, etc., — those are all the shifts.

The industry is now said to be looking at a new paradigm: integration ready IP. What the vision paper does: it takes the industry to where it is heading and tells this is what’s needed. This is what the integrators will need in the future.

Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO, Cadence, on global semiconductor trends

Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO, Cadence Design Systems @ CDNLive in Bangalore, India.

I recently attended Cadence Design Systems’ CDNLive event in Bangalore this week. Here’s a snapshot of Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO, Cadence, touching upon global semiconductor trends during his keynote address.

According to Tan, the semicon industry is recovering and stabilizing, and gradually improving. The semiconductor revenue is also improving, but is still down, as compared to last year.

JP Morgan conducts a CEO survey with the GSA (Global Semiconductor Association), known as the Semicon CEO Sentiment Index. It shows that the CEO sentiment has improved from 29 percent in Jan. 2009 to 51.4 percent in Oct. 2009.

Innovative products are most likely to drive recovery. These include 4G phones, smart grid power, medical electronics and emerging markets. In 4G, WiMAX is growing, while in smart grid, semiconductors play a critical role. Medical electronics is also growing rapidly, and emerging markets such as China and India are very important. Video traffic is another big market.

SoCs facilitate innovative products and capital efficiency
How will you deliver innovative products? Perhaps, by capital efficiency! You require to develop very close partnerships with your foundry partners. IP or intellectual property is becoming very important as well. For example, a complex chip could well have over 50,000 IPs that would need to be integrated. There are EDA tools as well.

SoCs facilitate the delivery of innovative products and capital efficiency. Advantages of the SoC include developing multifunction devices, allowing the setting of aggressive price targets, and also developing products in innovative form factors. SoC designs are leading the industry. Most chips are today mixed signal in nature.

An example is the iPhone, which has several SoCs. It uses a very complex chip that integrates everything and runs on low power.

Implications of SoC development and integration
The implications of SoC development and integration include collaboration, mixed signal and system-level design and verification. SoCs require extensive collaboration.

Software will be driving the differentiating factors. Next, all SoCs are mixed signal designs. Incidentally, Cadence is a leader in mixed signal. SoCs also require a system level of improvement. Cadence has solutions for system level design and verification.

Later, Cadence will move into virtual prototyping. This will help the company in moving forward as per its roadmap. Cadence delivers leadership core products, and complements those products with the ecosystem and service offerings. “Our foundation business — we want to be SoC realization partner with our customers,” said Tan.

Here are some announcements from Cadence at CDNLive:
* TLM-to-GDS design and verification flow announced.
* 450+ customers for RTL Compiler and Conformal.
* Customers switching to OVM for verification re-use.
* Encounter adds 230+ new customers.
* Virtuoso speeds Spectre simulation up to 60 percent for mixed signals.

Lip-Bu Tan said that Cadence is a trusted and open EDA partner of the electronics industry, and is committed to the leadership technology creation. It will deliver and enable leading solutions in SoCs. Cadence is also organizing to optimize in efficiency creation and delivery of its offerings globally.

“We are committed to our customers’ success. The key is to find the right role within the ecosystem. We are again profitable as well, with $570 million in cash,” he concluded.