EDA News H' Monday March 3, 2003 From: EDAToolsCafe _____ CareersCafe.com _____ About This Issue H' Volunteers at Our Beck & Call _____ February 24-28, 2003 By Peggy Aycinena Read business product alliance news and analysis of weekly happenings _____ Committees are working long and hard to facilitate interoperability Whether laboring over IEEE standards or Accellera language specifications, the unsung heroes in today's design world are most definitely the committee members who work nights and weekends to bring open source languages and standards to fruition. Whether or not their respective employers give them time off to pursue those efforts (or even so much as an annotation in their annual review), these guys are making a contribution that far exceeds anything a typical committee member receives in return. They're facilitating interoperability, plug-and-play design strategies, and increasing the overall QoL (Quality of Life) for the engineers who end up using the tools, languages, or interfaces that they standardize. Although last week's DVCon (Design & Verification Conference) showcased numerous technical talks, engaging panel discussions (" DVCon Panals Amuse and Amaze "), and keynote addresses ( "Synopsys Declares for SystemVerilog" ), the real message to all of those in attendance, and those who couldn't be there, is that the world is definitely getting better. There is movement and discussion and an increasing acknowledgement that standards and open-source anything helps not only the long-suffering designers, but their managers as well, and the corporate structure within which they all work. (Not to mention, ultimately, the impact all of this cooperation has on the bottom line for tool vendors, IP providers, system houses, and application developers.) The interesting thing about the type of person who participates in these committees? Their personality profiles are so predictable! First of all, they're always really nice people. Second of all, they're rarely fat heads or egomaniacs. Third of all, they have a passion for engineering and that's a passion they've translated into a way of life. They're (generally) calm, congenial, considerate, polite, and always very smart - in other words, they know how to listen and how to contribute constructively to dialog. Most importantly (and they speak about it often), they have patient families back home who understand why committee work is appealing and (usually) provide enthusiastic moral support for their efforts. There are some obvious downsides related to standards work and those problems have never been a secret. First of all, companies who are pushing the envelope in technology always want their technology to be the basis for an emerging standard. Companies start claiming, as soon as (it's irrationally) possible that whatever they've got is now THE DE FACTO INDUSTRY STANDARD. This kind of grandstanding is always typical, expected, and tolerated - but it's never useful. However, the darker truth is that independent industry standards bodies often end up anointing the technology out of a particular company as the chosen standard. They do it reluctantly, even while openly acknowledging that a better choice exists. But, when a company establishes pre-eminence in a market and "everybody's using their stuff," standards bodies sometimes have little choice but to pick that particular one as the standard, while hoping to finesse the technology to address the needs of the broadest base of users. Another problem that has always haunted standards bodies is the "Gollum-like" behavior of companies - big or small - who discover that their technology has indeed become the de facto standard. That type of company immediately sequesters "Their Precious" in guarded, underground vaults and nobody, not nobody, gets to have access to the Arcanum that they own, control, and possess. And so it goes on for some years until there's enough hue-and-cry in the industry - or new management takes over and pushes Gollum out - and cooler heads prevails. At that point, our plucky committee members step up, volunteer their services, and the industry watches closely as suggested standards emerge for discussion, voting, and ratification. The thorniest problem, however, lies in the nature of standards work itself. It's an effort that's characterized by accommodation and compromise. That takes time - and particularly in the case of IEEE standards - often, too much time. The contemplative and democratic process is not necessarily an efficient one and by the time standards can be established, documented, and agreed to, the world may have moved to another place and the standards become irrelevant. This is disheartening, but the committees continue to work nonetheless. Their members are nothing, if not determined. It's not really possible to catalog all of the private individuals, committees, working groups, or documentation specialists who contribute to the larger good by making standards possible. You all know who you are. The world has benefited, and will continue to benefit from your efforts. Take these brief words as a round of applause. Certainly the industry should speak in one voice when they say, "Well done!" Now go home. Your families would like it if you could be there for dinner tonight. Industry News - Tools Agilent Technologies Inc. announced that the company's Connected Solutions was named as the 2003 Best Wireless Design Tool at the Wireless Systems Design 2003 Conference and Expo. Cheryl Ajluni, Editor-in-Chief of Wireless Systems Design Magazine said, "Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS), coupled with the company's Connected Solutions concept, ensures that today's wireless systems engineers are able to verify design performance earlier in the development cycle than previously possible." Applied Wave Research (AWR) announced TestWave software, which integrates test and measurement instruments into the AWR design environment. The TestWave product integrates the design process for wireless systems and RF/microwave circuit designers by combining schematic simulation, test signal generation, and test and measurement verification. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced the Cadence Incisive verification platform, a single-kernel verification platform for nanometer-scale designs that supports a unified verification methodology applicable to the embedded software, control, data path, and analog, mixed-signal, and RF design domains. The company says the platform's unified methodology will shorten testbench development time, verification runtime, and debug time, and may compress overall verification time by up to 50 percent. The Incisive platform provides native support for Verilog, VHDL, SystemC, the SystemC Verification Library, the property specification language PSL/Sugar, algorithm development and Analog/Mixed Signal (AMS), and includes a transaction-level environment, unified test generation; and acceleration-on-demand. Cadence also announced three new products as part of the platform: Incisive, a simulation-based, digital verification solution; Incisive-XLD, that the company says will allows up to 10 engineers to increase the performance of simulation-based verification by 100x; and Incisive-XLD Base, which includes an accelerator/emulator base unit. The company also said it is extending the Cadence IP Partners Program to support third-party verification IP for the platform. Dataram Corp. announced the availability of memory upgrades for HP zx2000 and zx6000 workstations. In addition to the standard 512MB, 1GB and 2GB memory options, Dataram is offering a 4GB memory upgrade that expands the HP zx2000 to 8GB of total memory and the HP zx6000 to 24GB. The company says this is the largest amount of memory to date to be configured in an Intel-based workstation. This memory option is currently not available from HP. Interra Systems, Inc. announced the release of the MC2 memory development system for discrete and embedded memories, which automates the methodology for the design and distribution of memories. The system uses a tiling and auto netlisting engine to allow designers to create a range of memory instances, using their memory bit cells as building blocks. Characterization has also been automated to provide an accurate measurement of memory performance. MC2 is currently shipping. iRoC Technologies announced the release of M-BISTeR for test, diagnosis and repair of defects in embedded memories. The company says programmability features are combined with self-repair and diagnosis capabilities to enable engineers to improve the quality and reliability of memories. M-BISTeR is intended for use by design engineers to embed memory BIST in SoCs, test engineers seeking fault coverage through address, data and algorithm programmability, and process quality and yield engineers hoping to increase memory yield through self-repair without the need for laser repair operations. LogicVision, Inc. announced that Trebia Networks has purchased LogicVision's Validator desktop at-speed silicon debug station and used Validator for at-speed debugging of its first highly integrated network processor chip, the SNP 1000. The company says that Trebia combined the use of LogicVision's Embedded Test technology and the Validator to debug its multi-million gate SoC in only a few days. Mentor Graphics Corp. announced a multiple-year agreement with ATI Technologies Inc. for an integrated tool suite that will be used to verify ATI's graphics processors and digital media silicon. ATI develops high-performance video processors for desktop, notebook, workstation, set-top box, game consoles, and handheld applications. ATI will use the Mentor Graphics VStation 15M and 30M emulation systems, Calibre DRC, LVS and RVE physical verification tools, FastScan, DFTAdvisor, and BSDArchitect DFT tools. Also from Mentor Graphics - The company announced enhancements to the Calibre suite of resolution enhancement technology (RET) tools the company says will ensure Calibre's RET modeling accuracy for the next three technology nodes. RET modeling accuracy becomes increasingly important in the sub-100-nanomemter nodes where the process window shrinks (parameters at which the process delivers yielding silicon). Accurate RET modeling of the complex lithographic system can help ensure pattern fidelity despite distortions that occur when IC features are one-third the wavelength of the exposure equipment. Before full-chip RET operations, there are a number of key model calibration and creation steps. During model setup, the user inputs key parameters such as test pattern silicon measurements, exposure wavelength, numerical aperture, sigma and the illumination pattern. The enhancements to Calibre VT5 (Variable Threshold Version 5) and TCCcalc (vector, thin-film optical calculations) are extensions to the Calibre RET silicon modeling and OPC technology base. The resulting new TCCcalc optical model is fitted to the data, with resist and etch effects handled by the new VT5 model. The model's predictive ability is verified versus silicon, then used by VT5 in conjunction with batch, full-chip RET software for production. From Mentor Graphics, as well - The company announced that the Wire Harness Technology (WHT) division of Vansco has adopted the Mentor Graphics Capital Harness Systems (CHS) family of products for the design, engineering and manufacturing of electrical wire harnesses. Vansco supplies wire harnesses to manufacturers of large transportation and heavy construction equipment. Designs for its transportation customers include buses with more than 100 harnesses per vehicle and as many as 400 circuits per harness. CHS is an end-to-end tool set for creating complex wire harnesses and includes tools to automate the design, analysis and manufacture. Nassda Corp. announced that it has moved to new worldwide headquarters in Santa Clara, CA. The company was previously located elsewhere in Santa Clara. Novas Software, Inc. announced it has become a corporate member of Accellera. The company says that as a member company of Accellera, Novas will promote and drive adoption of standard design representation formats. Sandwork Design, Inc. announced enhancements to SPICE Explorer with Release 2003.1, including 64-bit capabilities, a second-generation waveform data format (WDF-II) to address file size in both large analog and digital circuit simulations, application programming extensions (APX) which include a Tcl/Perl driven scripting language for user-defined measurements or batch-mode waveform file regressions, dynamic meter enhancements to automatically measure duty cycles, eye-diagram measurements, multiple-bits AD and DA conversions, and FFT windowing functions to provide post-simulation FFT analysis. Sequence Design has signed a sales management agreement for Aquarius Technologies to represent the company in Europe, supplementing the company's European network of FAEs, R&D and technical marketing staff. The effort will be headed by John Siemens. Synopsys, Inc. announced additions to its verification platform including an advanced constraints solver engine for creating efficient stimulus, a coverage engine to measure the quality of the verification environment, and support for OpenVera Assertions (OVA) to provide a unified platform for assertion-based verification methodology. The technologies have been added to the latest release of the Vera testbench automation tool and are compatible with the VCS 7.0 HDL simulator. The new constraints solver in Vera permits users to implement a constraints-driven random verification methodology, and analyze solutions for hundreds of simultaneous constraints, each with hundreds of random variables. The engine is architected for compatibility with the constraints language that is being defined for Accellera's emerging SystemVerilog standard. Also from Synopsys - The company announced that Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) has selected Synopsys' verification platform, including the VCS Verilog simulator and the Vera testbench automation tool, to provide verification techniques such as constraint-driven random stimulus generation, assertion-based verification, and formal analysis. Under the terms of the multi-year contract, Synopsys' Smart Verification technology and verification consultants will work with SPS. All of Motorola's semiconductor business groups plan to adopt the technology. From Synopsys, as well - The company announced that Texas Instruments ASIC Division has completed two multi-million gate designs using Synopsys' Physical Compiler (PC) and has integrated PC into its standard Pyramid ASIC design flow. PC is a component of Synopsys' Galaxy Design Platform and unifies synthesis and placement. And finally - Synopsys announced that Philips has signed a multi-year volume purchase agreement with Synopsys for its front-end design platform. Synopsys' platform will become a design standard at Philips' Semiconductor Division for developing complex digital ICs. Philips will use the technology for designs targeting its CMOS 12 (130 nanometer), CMOS 090 (90 nanometer) processes, and beyond (see "Philps touts Circles of Connectivity" ). Verisity Ltd. announced that Mentor Graphics Corp. is the 100th member of Verisity's Verification Alliance program. The program links Verisity with industry consultants and consulting firms to provide customers with assistance in verification of complex IC, SoC, and system designs; along with engineering resources. Mentor Consulting, the professional services division of Mentor Graphics, will provide engineers with verification methodology training and consulting services based on Verisity's solutions. By joining the Verification Alliance program, Mentor Consulting says it is addressing increasing customer demand for training and consulting services in the verification field. WaferYield Inc. announced that AMI Semiconductor (AMIS) has completed an initial evaluation of WaferYield's WAMA (Wafer Mapping) software and reports "encouraging" yield improvement on leading edge processes. WaferYield's Integrated Global Optimization (iGO) tools assist in Design-for-Manufacturing through optimization of wafer mapping optimization. The WAMA product family is a field/die placement tool for performing multi-dimensional analysis. Industry News - Devices Altera Corp. and Arrow Electronics, Inc. announced availability of the MAX 7000 Quick Start development kit for MAX 7000 complex PLDs for university students, digital designers implementing general-purpose programmable logic designs, and customers new to Altera's MAX 7000 device family. The development kit includes a development board with a MAX EPM7128AE device, the Quartus II Web Edition design software, a programming cable, an example design, power supply, and documentation. Also from Altera - The company and Gidel announced availability of a rapid prototyping board for customers designing system-level applications with Stratix FPGAs. Gidel's PROC1S Stratix 80 board includes a Stratix EP1S80 device and is intended for prototyping and real-time emulation of high-bandwidth, high-density applications including DSPs, imaging, machine vision, video processing, aerospace, and military systems. Gidel is an Altera Consultants Alliance Program member company. Amphion announced that Dialog Semiconductor Plc has licensed a system-level core from Amphion for use in a high-volume standard product ASIC design. Dialog develops and supplies mixed-signal technology for imaging, audio and power management. Amphion sells a range of cores for video, image, and audio signal processing in targeted-netlist formats for SoC/ASIC technologies and FPGAs. The standard set of core deliverables for an ASIC usually includes a bit-accurate C model, pre-compiled HDL simulation models, Verilog and VHDL testbenches, a gate-level netlist, and user documentation. Atmel Corp. announced a new intelligent stepper motor driver IC, the ATA6830, manufactured using Atmel's 0.8-micron BCDMOS process technology. The new driver supports operation of up to 45 Volts and is optimized for applications in harsh environments including automotive systems, particularly cars with Xenon lights, where automatic headlamp adaptation is mandatory to avoid dazzling on-coming vehicle drivers. The company says that, in contrast to conventional stepper motor driver ICs that need a separate microcontroller for the cruise control function, the ATA6830 is a complete one-chip solution as it includes an intelligent travel operation control block to control the function. Also from Atmel - The company announced the availability of a new standard RF product, the Intermediate Frequency (IF) demodulator ATR0797, designed for a range of communication infrastructure systems such as fixed wireless or broadband wireless access applications. The ATR0797 is for use in the receive path of a wireless system where it converts IF bandpass signals to complex bandpass signals with a minimum of signal distortion. It is manufactured using Atmel's SiGe technology, and has two buffers integrated at the IF input for three switchable gain steps. Again from Atmel - The company announced the Access Point/router (AT76C511) as an addition to its VNET2 family of wireless LAN products. The AT76C511 is a single-chip with two ARM7TDMI processors, two 10/100 Ethernet MACs, a high-speed USART, and a 802.11b MAC for connection between a wireless LAN and a WAN. The device is a based-bridge controller and supports access point (AP), bridges, wireless routers, and ADSL to WLAN. In AP mode, the internetworking ARM manages the Ethernet based data that is destined outside the WLAN using IP over Ethernet. In Bridge mode, the internetworking ARM implements protocols for bridging AP's to AP's. In a wireless router mode, the second Ethernet MAC can be connected to a 4-port or 8-port Ethernet switch. Additionally, the second Ethernet MAC can also be connected to an ADSL chipset. The company says that to address "today's security concerns," the AT76C511 integrates a dedicated hardware block to implement Wired Encryption Privacy (WEP) enciphering/deciphering of wireless data for both 64- and 128-bit keys. Cypress Semiconductor Corp. announced a new family of USB embedded host controllers. The devices are targeted for embedded applications that connect to each other without the need for a host computer. EZ-Host (CY7C67300) is a multi-port embedded host/peripheral controller intended for the non-handheld market, set-top boxes, DVD players, Internet appliances, wireless access points, print servers and KVM switches, and contains a 16-bit RISC microcontroller; two USB serial interface engines (SIEs), and a configurable I/O block that can connect to numerous standard interfaces. EZ-OTG (CY7C67200) contains most of the functionality of EZ-Host but is customized for mobile devices, cell phones, PDAs, video and still cameras, MP3 players and mass storage devices. The EZ-OTG supports the USB On-the-Go (OTG) protocol, and contains two USB SIEs, with one port per SIE, and a power-boost circuit that operates down to 2.7V. Integrated Programmable Communications, Inc. (InProComm) announced that the WN-230 series, an IEEE 802.11b baseband and medium access controller (BB-MAC) IP block, has received a three-star rating and is "verified for functionality" in TSMC's 0.18-micron CMOS process technology through TSMC's Cybershuttle Prototyping Program. Micron Technology, Inc. announced several Intel-compliant DDR400 (PC3200) products. The company says it is delivering PC3200 128MB and 256MB DDR400 DIMM modules to major OEM customers, concurrent with Intel's introduction of the Intel 865P/865PE/865G (Springdale version) chipsets and the 875P (Canterwood). Micron has provided modules to Intel for validation, and anticipates validation within the coming weeks. MIPS Technologies, Inc. announced that Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd. has taken a license for a range of 32-bit cores from MIPS, including the MIPS32 4KEc and 4Kp processor cores, and the SOC-it system controller. Sunplus is the largest consumer IC design company in Taiwan and says it intends to use the MIPS license to develop various consumer electronics devices. Pericom Semiconductor Corp. announced a family of registered buffer logic optimized to support both the DDR333 and DDR400 Memory Modules. The PI74SSTVF16857 is JEDEC compliant and supports clock frequencies to 270MHz, a minimum Fmax rated at 210MHz, propagation delay performance of 2.2ns (16-bit), and balanced output drive of +/-16mA while consuming less than 10uA standby current. Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas announced the mass production shipment of its BlueStreak family of ARM-based 16/32-bit general-purpose microcontrollers (MCUs). The four new MCUs combine high integration with an ARM7TDMI-S core for applications in industrial control, white goods, smart appliances, marine applications, smart toys, PDAs, and smart phones. The 16-bit external addressing makes these microcontrollers useful in 16-bit applications that require higher performance, and offer functionalities such as the ability to drive color or grayscale LCD displays. Texas Instruments Inc. announced a new 28V white LED driver and new LCD boost converter that helps control brightness and quality of LEDs and LCDs in portable applications. The TPS61042 high-frequency white LED driver has a 1.8V to 6V input range and supplies output voltages up to 28V. It can drive up to eight white LEDs with a constant current and allows the LED current to be set with an external sense resistor. The LED current can be pulsed by applying a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal with a frequency range of 100 Hz to 50 kHz to a control pin. The control input in the TPS61042 also allows disabling the part and disconnecting the LEDs in order to avoid current leakage during shutdown. The TPS61045 adjustable LCD bias boost converter has a digitally programmable output of up to 28V, which allows for contrast control of small- to medium-sized LCD displays without the need for external components. It also provides a true shutdown feature that disconnects the load from the input and provides controlled power up/down sequencing of the display. Also from Texas Instruments - The company announced an integrated battery fuel gauge for single-cell lithium-ion (Li-Ion) and lithium-polymer (Li-Polymer) battery packs to calculate remaining battery capacity and system run-time. The company says that as levels of functionality in 2.5G and 3G mobile handsets, and PDAs increase, an accurate account of remaining battery power is important, particularly before an important wireless transaction. The bq270x0, or bqJunior battery fuel gauge incorporates an on-board processor to calculate the remaining battery capacity and system runtime (time to empty). The device measures the battery's charge and discharge currents to within 1% error using an integrated low-offset voltage-to-frequency converter. A separate A/D converter on the IC is used to measure battery voltage and temperature. Using the measurement inputs, the bqJunior calculates the remaining battery capacity and system runtime. Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) and Toshiba Corp. announced a high-speed optical transmitter/receiver designed for automotive LANs. The devices are part of Toshiba's TOSLINK fiber-optic products and deliver data at a rate of 125 Mbps. Also from TAEC - The company announced an 8-bit microcontroller (MCU) for system control of small electric home appliances. The chip integrates a high-performance 8-bit CPU core with on-board memory in a 20-pin Dual In-line Package (DIP) small enough for small-form-factor appliance designs. Samples are available now with volume production scheduled to start in March 2003. Xilinx, Inc. announced the successful demonstration of serial technology at 10 Gbps on a single channel using a standard CMOS logic process. The company says the announcement represents "a milestone" in the Xilinx Serial Tsunami initiative. The technology supports chip-to-chip, chip-to-module, and serial backplane applications and is based on non-return to zero (NRZ) signaling. Xilinx plans to use its 10 Gbps circuitry in products for delivery this year. Coming soon to a theater near you Accellera's European Meeting - Everybody's favorite EDA organization focused on language-based design standards is inviting the electronic design community to attend its open member meeting during DATE 2003 at the International Congress Center in Munich on Monday, March 3rd. There will be updates from committee members and members of the HDL community regarding Accellera's standards efforts, and a sharing of viewpoints about HDL-based design in Europe - including presentations from Ian Benson, Erich Marschner, Vassilios Gerousis, John Shields, Ian Phillips, and Yaron Wolfsthal. www.accellera.org ) The Open SystemC Initiative (OSCI) is sponsoring a demonstration booth this week at DATE 2003, which will feature advanced research work from various European universities. OSCI is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing SystemC as an open source industry standard for system-level design. Participating universities and research groups include the Universita degli Studi di Verona (Italy), the Technische Universitat Chemnitz (Germany), the Technische Universitat Braunschweig (Germany), Eberhard-Karls-Universitat Tubingen (Germany), the Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria (Spain), and OFFIS, a German research institute. EmbeddedSystems Conferences - You've got multiple ways to go in the next several months if you want to catch this CMP show. It's happening this month in Asia - March 3rd and 4th in Shanghai, on March 6th and 7th in Beijing, and on March 10th and 11th in Shenzhen. Additionally this year, ESC-China will be co-located with the International IC - China Conference & Exhibition. Next month, ESC moves to the U.S. unfolding in San Francisco from April 22nd to 26th. Conference organizers modestly maintain that "the Embedded Systems Conferences series is the world's largest event for embedded technologies." They're probably right, so you should get to one of these events if you can. Meanwhile, if you're going to attend the San Francisco show, you'll also be able to attend electronicaUSA, which will be co-located there for the first time with ESC. If none of this fits into your schedule, there will be more opportunities in the fall. LogicVision's Embedded Test Seminar - On the afternoon of March 12th, you can learn more about technologies that take advantage of on-chip real estate and on-chip test/debug technologies. LogicVision will be conducting the course at the Westford Regency in Westford, MA. Topics will include currently available test methodologies with a special focus on at-speed hierarchical embedded test strategies, and the factors that affect the cost of test and debug. ( www.logicvision.com/seminar ) Newsmakers Elliptic Semiconductor announced that it has appointed Larry Perron, Senior Partner of Venture Coaches, to the company's Board of Directors. Perron has worked in telecommunications, semiconductor technology, strategic investment, and venture capital including stints at Mitel Semiconductor (now Zarlink), Toshiba of Canada, and Newbridge Networks. 1st Silicon Sdn. Bhd. announced that Mort Bamdad has joined the company as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, and will be responsible for developing the company's global marketing strategy, target market support, and strategic business and technology alliances. He reports directly to CEO W. John Nelson. Previously Bamdad was Senior Business Development Manager at TSMC, Divisional Manager for Wacker Siltronics, and at Philips Semiconductors in management roles in the ASIC and customer silicon IC business groups. Bamdad has a degree in microelectronics from Westminster University, London, where he also was a member of the University's research department. Synopsys, Inc. announced that Roy Vallee has been appointed to Synopsys' board of Directors. Vallee is a 30-year veteran of the electronics industry and has served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Avnet, Inc. since 1998. Previously, Vallee served as President, COO, and Vice Chairman of Avnet, and also held various executive management and sales positions within the company. Vallee currently serves on the Board of Directors of Teradyne and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Technology Distribution Council. Tera Systems announced the appointment of Tsugumi Fujitani as Managing Director for its new Japan operations, Nihon Tera Systems K.K. Fujitani's responsibilities will include managing relationships with Tera System's partners in Japan, launching localized versions of Tera's Japanese products, and developing best practices for selling and operational procedures. Fujitani brings 20+ years of technical experience in electronics and EDA. Most recently Fujitani was CEO and Co-founder of Spinnaker Systems. Previously, she was an FAE Manager at Okura and an ASIC designer at Hitachi. Fujitani has a B.S. from Jissen University. Xicor, Inc. has named Davin Lee as Vice President, Marketing, reporting to the company's President and CEO, Lou DiNardo. Lee will be responsible for marketing activities including product marketing, strategic planning, and marketing communications. Lee has 12 years' experience in the industry including previous positions at Altera Corp. and National Semicondcutor. He has a BSEE from the University of Texas, Austin, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In the category of ... Won't you be my neighbor Call it corny, but the world will miss Fred Rogers, a.k.a. TV's Mr. Rogers. He was a gentleman, a teacher, and a friend to a generation of American children and - almost more importantly - to their parents. He always took time to explain things and often reassured people that their fears and false prides were a normal part of life. He taught us that no one can ever pry into your mind and know what you are thinking - unless you want them to. In so doing, he acknowledged and confirmed our right to privacy and our right to a sense of self. Mr. Rogers was, in all senses of the word, a good man. Pleasing some of the people some of the time If you suffer from enough hubris to think people should read what you write, you probably should check your ego armor before you let your copy fly. If you're too cynical, the sincere-niks complain. If you're too sincere, the tough guys complain. If you're too satirical, those who perceive themselves the objects of the satire complain. If you're too gentle on those who deserve worse, their victims complain. You can't please all of the people all of the time and it boils down to two choices - write and be true to yourself, or don't write at all. Not enough ink Meanwhile, it's starting to seem as if there may not be enough ink left in the presses to cover all of the news if it comes at us at any faster a rate than it is today, if the headlines get any bigger then they are today. Thank goodness we've all got on-line news sources to give us our daily injection of late, breaking stories. On-line news doesn't need ink and it doesn't need paper. It just needs the power grid and some energy to run the thing. So not to worry - ink and paper may be in short supply, but surely energy's a limitless resource. Letters to the Editor - mostly uncensored and unabridged February 3rd - DesignCon 2003 Vin Ratford at deepTECH Consulting Group - "Let me add to the debate about Real Engineers versus those who 'escape' to Marketing and Sales, since that is what I did after exactly 7 years (:new meaning to the '7-year itch'). I find myself working harder at staying current with the technology than when I was a design engineer and now need to 'reinvent' myself every 3 to 4 years. Marketing often gets lumped together with Sales, but successful high-tech marketing folks are constantly learning about new technology, how to apply it, and its value. History has shown us that successful products have had great engineering coupled to similarly great marketing and sales. We all have our roles to play." February 3rd - Letters to the Editor Gary Rebello, Vice President Human Resources at Mentor Graphics Corp. - "The comments recently published in EDA Weekly made by Daniel Payne, a Mentor Graphics employee, reflect Daniel's personal viewpoint and do not reflect the company's philosophy or practice. Mentor Graphics has been and continues to be fully committed to providing a positive and supportive environment for working mothers. This is certainly reflected by Working Mother magazine, which named Mentor Graphics one of the Top 100 companies in the U.S. for eight consecutive years. The magazine's criteria included salary, percent of women in senior positions, childcare facilities, flextime arrangements, and work/life arrangements including employee benefits. Mentor Graphics has a state of the art on-site child development center at our Wilsonville, OR, corporate headquarters and a similar near-site center at our San Jose, CA, location. Working parents (single, married, female, male) are critical to the continued success of Mentor Graphics and we have numerous benefits and practices to help them be successful at Mentor Graphics." February 10th - Lending a Helping Hand Scott McLellan, President and CEO at Icinergy Software Company - "In Canada, we have a world-class method for getting tools into the university system with support. Take a look at www.cmc.ca . I have to give Cadence a lot of credit. They have been supporting this organization for a long time, and there are many other EDA vendors involved as well. Additionally, there is a similar organization in Europe." February 10th - An Unforgiving Place Lynda De Vol, Marcom Program Manager, IC Implementation at Synopsys - "I just wanted you to know that your article was so touching. Thanks for sharing this part of your life regarding you and your dad." Also from Scott McLellan, President and CEO at Icinergy Software Company - "My father sounds a lot like yours. He was always waking us up and dragging us in to watch the TV for the moon landing and launches." Heidi Vantulden at BlueStone PR - "Thanks for sharing part of your life. I really enjoyed learning more about your dad." Steven Goldsmith, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Infrastructure Systems, Networking ICs and ASICs, Systems Architecture and IC Technology at Agere Systems - "Thanks for sharing your comments and thoughts on the Shuttle and the Space Program." Anon in networking technology - "I was moved by your article and can honestly agree with its view. I also hope for the continuation of the Space Program. NASA and the Space Program have been a big part of my life having spent 15 years at Ames Research Center. It's always nice to come across people who have worked there and have a vivid understanding of the importance the Space Program brings to all our lives." February 17th - Jabberwocky Anon in systems - "Thank you for the very nice coverage of the EDAC CEO Panel. EDA is a truly exciting industry (though a bit rash sometimes). Thanks for serving the best and the latest on this great industry." February 24th - On the other side of the globe - EDA in India Anon in semiconductors - "Ray Bingham (Cadence's CEO) was in India recently to inaugurate the company's expanded corporate resource center in Noida. He also unveiled plans for investing close to $50 million over the next three years in the Indian operations, which will increase its workforce from 450 today to 650 by 2006. That will make it the biggest R&D center for Cadence outside of the U.S." February 24th - Three Scoops and a Banana Split Anon in PR - "Much appreciated the Three Scoops and a Banana Split!" Another Anon in PR - "Yes, I am very afraid if the 800-pound gorilla gets mad." Anon not in PR - "Keep up the fight for frank discourse!" February 24th - EDA Weekly Mark Chadwick, Product Manager, DFT Division of Mentor Graphics - "Thanks for the newsletter. The material is clearly relevant to me. However, I find that it's not conducive for quick reading because the order and grouping of the companies is just alphabetical. I recommend that the topics of the material be part of the newsletter organization." --Peggy Aycinena is a Contributing Editor and can be reached at peggy@ibsystems.com . You are subscribed as: [dolinsky@gsu.by]. Cafe News is a service for EDA professionals. EDAToolsCafe respects your online time and Internet privacy. If you would prefer not to receive this type of email or if you consider this message as unsolicited commercial e-mail, please click here . PLEASE NOTE: You can change the frequency of this newsletter by clicking here . 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