By
Jerry W. Saveriano
Sanda Communications, Inc.
Traditional
CAD tools have helped civil engineers and mechanical
engineers build structures and products for our world:
cities, bridges and highways and parts, cars and planes.
New CAD tools for electronic design automation (EDA)
will help us build new worlds. Worlds so small, so dense
and so complex that we cannot attempt to design them
without computer aided tools.
EDA
software tools help engineers design circuit boards,
integrated circuits, microprocessors and memory chips.
The next generation of EDA software will help with the
design, verification and test of chips that contain
complete systems, what are referred to as system-on-a-chip
(SoC) products. These intelligent software tools and
intellectual property (IP) library databases have extended
our ability to the creation worlds we cannot see and
to some degree cannot even imagine without these mind
amplifying tools.
History
EDA got its start in the 1970s and early 1980s. Pioneers
like Applicon, ComputerVision and Calma led the way,
followed by Daisy, Mentor Graphics, Summit Design, Valid
Logic Systems and others. In the late 1980s, Cadence,
OrCAD, Synopsys, Viewlogic and similar companies set
the pace by developing EDA tools that became widely
adopted.
The
EDA industry is under ever increasing pressure—like
a collapsing star—to create new products in less
time, products that use less power, are more powerful
and cost less to design, test and produce. This pressure
is the result of global competitive forces and the rise
in consumer demand for pagers, handhelds, PDAs, smart
instruments for field technicians, HDTV, DVDs, digital
cameras, cell phones with built-in emergency GPS locators
and myriad other information appliances with ambient
intelligence. (You've just got to love the CE product
names, especially compared with the acronyms that permeate
the engineering-dominated EDA field.) And let's
not forget the continuing battle for cheaper PCs and
laptops (less than $500). With the semiconductor companies
ability to fabricate 300 mm wafers and deep sub-micron
(0.25/0.18-micron) circuits, manufacturing is outpacing
the design jocks.
The
Business of EDA
The EDA business is healthy and growing and is less
subject to the vicious swings that have hit the semiconductor
industry. EDA has an enviable track record of 15 consecutive
quarters of double-digit growth. The Electronic Design
Automation Consortium (EDAC) reported that EDA industry
revenues for third quarter 1997 through third quarter
1998 grew at 17 percent to more than $3 billion. Semiconductor
intellectual property (IP) product and tools revenue
was up 43 percent and consulting services grew by 40
percent. And Gartner Group's Dataquest forecasts
a growth in the SoC market from $6 billion in 1998 to
$16 billion in 2000. This market growth will help fund
a new generation of EDA tools to meet the challenge
posed by SoC design.
The
rate of change in the technology end of the EDA business
is not the only concern investors and managers must
attend to. The EDA business today is in a constant state
of flux that borders on nerve-wracking chaos. With mergers,
acquisitions, spin-offs, spin-ins, partnering, law suits,
hostile takeovers, and more start-ups than you can shake
a VC at, it's a wonder anyone can keep track of
it.
The
global economy, the drive for standards and open systems,
and our interconnected world make EDA a truly international
industry. In fact, one of the hottest growth areas in
EDA design services is India, where many EDA companies
draw on the well-schooled engineering talent pool. One
of the most lamentable weaknesses in the United States,
and perhaps even more threatening for Oregon competitiveness,
is our lack of talented well-trained electrical engineers
and computer scientists.
EDA
in Oregon
How important is EDA to Oregon's future, and what
is Oregon's position as a player in the EDA market?
Does Oregon have its own critical mass of EDA companies,
or are we merely a satellite of Silicon Valley? The
good news is that Oregon does indeed have its own critical
mass, which is due in large part to the EDA lineage
of Tektronix, Mentor Graphics, OrCAD, Summit, Analogy
and Integrated Measurement Systems. These and other
Oregon-based companies have deep history in EDA. Their
presence has established a world-class collection of
EDA star companies in the Beaverton-Wilsonville area—enough
to sustain and grow the Oregon branch of the EDA tree.
California will continue to dominate the business and
will play an increasingly important role in Oregon's
EDA companies, having both positive and negative impact.
But Oregon EDA companies should be able to hold their
own in the chaotic EDA industry.
The
Gartner Group's Gary Smith, one of the leading
EDA analysts, calculates Oregon's share of the
US EDA business at roughly 15 percent. The Boston Area
has around 5 percent, leaving an 80 percent lion's
share of the EDA market to California based companies.
Oregon's share of the U.S. market declined more
than two percent from 1995 to 1997.
Both
Rita Glover of EDA Today and Dan McMillan of The Business
Journal of Portland also agree that Oregon companies
will play important roles in the EDA Industry and that
EDA and related technologies will continue to grow in
importance in Oregon's economic and employment
future.
Thanks
for those who have helped with the research and editing
of this article. The mistakes and oversights are mine.
To learn more EDA industry visit the Web sites listed
below. Both Gary Smith of the Gartner Group's Dataquest
and Rita Glover of EDA Today track and analyze the industry
on a full time basis and were kind enough to share their
insight to help me gain a little understanding of what's
happening in EDA. And, Dan McMillan of The Business
Journal of Portland's helped me understand a bit about
the role of Oregon companies in EDA. And thanks to the
Sanda crew for their help with the editing of this piece.
List
of EDA news links
Business Journal of Portland: www.amcity.com/portland
EDA Today: www.edatoday.com
EDAC: www.edac.org
EE Times: www.eet.com
Gartner Group: www.gartner.com
SEMATECH: www.sematech.org
SAO: www.sao.org
