EDA News Monday December 22, 2003 From: EDACafe ÿÿ Previous Issues _____ Cadence _____ About This Issue EDA Unplugged 2003 Teach your children well _____ December 15 - 19, 2003 By Peggy Aycinena Read business product alliance news and analysis of weekly happenings _____ As the year draws to a close, we turn from trends in technology to a topic closer to hearth and home - what we teach our children. Now, while it's true that out in the real world there are hierarchies of rank and power and earnings, at home it's pretty much a level playing field. Parents, one and all, wrestle with the challenges of child rearing, and what and how to teach their children in a complex world. So, here is this year's edition of EDA Unplugged. I'm very grateful to everyone who has contributed - for their candor, sincerity, and good cheer. It's been a joyful thing to assemble. The request that went out ... All, Last year's request for EDA Unplugged 2002 asked for the best/worst of 2002 and/or 2003. There were a variety of responses. I'm hoping for the same variety this year. However, I've got a new topic. This one's a bit sentimental, so be prepared. As this year draws to a close - one that's been full of both war and signs of economic recovery - I'd like to hear from your CEO, if possible, or somebody up there in the upper echelon of the company on the following: "What I teach my children" Now, don't groan. Surely you and yours would much rather discuss the latest gadget or the economic prospects for your bottom line, so if this isn't something you want to participate in, nothing's lost. But if it is something that you or your client would like to chime in on, please do. It could be whimsical, you know - it doesn't have to be somber. For instance, I like to tell my children that a big part of being an effective employee is just showing up sober and on time each day - and that often times that's easier said than done. Okay, I look forward to hearing from you. By the way, even if you're not a CEO - for instance, if you're in PR - I'd still be happy to add your contribution to the article. Thanks a lot, Peggy Aycinena Contributing Editor EDA Weekly The responses that came in ... I believe that the greatest lesson I can teach my 15-year old son is that of self-worth. Beginning in their earliest moments of life, our children develop their sense of self-esteem based upon how we treat them, what time we spend with them, and what value we place on them, which in turn, reflects upon how they view the world and their place in it. On a daily basis, I let Max know that he is valued and cherished with my unconditional love and supportive words to help him through his day and its challenges. But, even more importantly, it is through my actions that I reveal to him his priority in my life. Since Max was only 4, we have had a standing "Mom & Max" date night that has become sacred to the both of us. This is time we spend without a phone, TV, or computer anywhere in sight, just him and me, talking and doing things we love doing together. While other parents may complain teenagers are tough, I believe that they are only as hard as we make them out to be. Francine Bacchini, ThinkBold Corporate Communications, LLC I thought your question was a great opportunity to talk to my two sons, aged 10 and 5. I asked the question and the oldest said, "Chess and jokes," as well as "Star Trek." He often asks me about the 'history' surrounding the stories presented on the Next Generation series, which is a favorite. Over the past few months I have taught him electronics and classes at Sunday School, as well. When asked the question, my youngest replied, "Square dancing, jokes, and tying shoes." Graham Bell, Senior Director of Marketing, Nassda Corp. The values I demonstrate at home are very similar to those I live on the job. I teach my children that the strength of the family as a unit is greater than that of the individual. I want my sons and daughters to understand that they are accountable and responsible for their actions. Ray Bingham, President and CEO, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. What I teach my children: - To respect all people and be cosmopolitan in their outlook. - To give their best in all things. - To focus and organize their thoughts and actions. - To enjoy life and have some fun. Phil Bishop, President and CEO, Celoxica I would teach my children responsibility, charity and self-reliance. Dennis Brophy, Chairman, Accellera I teach my children that family is everything. When you die, what do you want on your gravestone: "I was a key executive at a publicly traded high-tech company," or "I loved my family, taught them life lessons and was loved in return." Susan Cain, President, Cain Communication My son is not very old yet, so my teaching is along the lines of "Please stop doing that to the kitty." However, from the perspective of what I'm planning to teach him once he grows old enough to understand, here are the six things I would most like to instill in my son: 1. A love of his Creator. Time's oldest question is, "Why am I here?" I've only been able to think of one answer, so I'll teach him that. 2. A love of his parents. A mother and father's love will always be there, whereas everyone else's is conditional. 3. A love of his relatives, including ancestors. Stay strongly connected with family, and appreciate the many past lives who made ours possible. 4. A love of mankind. Learn the joy of doing things just to see others smile and laugh. 5. A love of nature. Take in it's beauty, but preserve it so future generations can appreciate it too. 6. A love of curiosity. All intelligence springs from here. Dino Caporossi, Vice President of Marketing, Hier Design Whatever you do, make sure you're learning. Whatever you learn, remember it when you're doing. Steve Corey, President of the Board of Directors, TDA Systems My children are unique creations of God and I encourage them to recognize that fact. I discourage them from following conventional wisdom because what is conventional today tends to be obsolete tomorrow. That they are choosing to be actors, writers and musicians rather than engineers or lawyers, and that they have developed unique interests tells me they have listened to that encouragement. They may be poor, but they will never be obsolete. Lou Covey, Principal Director, VitalCom These are the thoughts I most consistently note to other elementary school parents in the arena of being consistent and persistent as a parent. [Mat is our fourth-grader, soon to be 10, and the last of our three kids.] "Mat, the hardest part of being your Dad is those times where I need to tell you what to do. Ordinarily, I support or even applaud anyone's individuality and/or creativity. But, sometimes I need to teach or reinforce some choice of behavior, phrasing, or consideration I want you to have (or make). So, I have to push you to adapt to my desires in this situation, because that's the way I want (you) to be in the world. Hopefully, you'll use this (learning) as a base for building your own set of experiences and choices, as you grow further into a young adult and then an adult. And even if you choose to chuck it away in the future, at least you'll know how to handle this again - being polite, completing your homework on time, socializing or playing with others - when you're really out on your own (after you've turned 18!)" Joe Daniels, Documentation Specialist I am teaching both of my children the game of chess, so they learn how to be able to look for alternatives and to develop the patience to succeed. A chess game can be long and frustrating, so it is a good game to learn. I hope I show them by example that they should not to be scared of trying something new. And as my father taught me, "Trust every one once," and when they prove OK, then trust them again. But if they cannot be relied on, then do not forget it. However, my wife is teaching me that it is OK to let people make mistakes if they can learn from them, because the best way to learn is from direct experience - but this does require good teachers and constant monitoring. Simon Davidmann, Visiting Professor of Digital Systems, QMC, University of London and original Co-creator of SystemVerilog Things I teach my children (ages 8 and 11): - No matter when, where, or what you may do, I love you 1,000% - If you think you can, you can a lot better! - I don't care how well you do in school; I care how well you do against the talents that you have. If you have a lot, then one should expect a lot from you. - If you have the brains to criticize, you should have the heart to help. - A cookie shared is two cookies' worth of pleasure. - When you go out together, you come back together. You are responsible for others. - Do the right thing when nobody is looking. - You don't lie; you don't cheat. - Water, electricity, food are all precious resources; don't waste them! - Finish your plate, then dessert; finish your homework, then play. - Have you brushed your teeth? - No matter when, where, or what you may do, I really love you 10,000% Comment from 8-year-old in seeing this list: "I sort of remember the stuff to do, but not that you told me to, I guess." Comment on the list from 11-year-old: "No comment!" Aart de Geus, Chairman and CEO, Synopsys, Inc. I teach my children (all in their mid-to-late 20s now) that it doesn't matter what you do for a living, as long as you are HAPPY, that's what matters. I think too many of us push our kids too hard, and they end up in jobs they don't really like, but they think mom and dad will be pleased with them for doing it. It's all about living one's OWN life, not someone else's. Lois Dubois, President, Cayenne Communications My son just turned 20, so like Mark Twain's father, I still need to do more learning than teaching. Fortunately, he's a patient mentor, wittily pointing out my middle-aged foibles and in-grown hypocrisies. If I protest too much, my wife will gently remind me that he's "just a chip off the old blockhead." Bruce Edwards, Executive Director, Altium You are always better at what you like, so it is important to learn to like school, and math, and spelling, and, :. You don't have to choose between a well-paying job and a good job. Pick the good job. By being happy with what you do, money becomes a lot less important (this is a tough sell:.) The fact that you are smart doesn't make you good - it is much more impressive when you master something that you find hard, than when you go far with something you find easy. Jacob Jacobsson, CEO, Forte Design Systems My adopted children were born in Europe and China, and a big idea around our house is: respect diversity. We talk about being citizens of the world - what does this mean to an 8- and an 11-year-old? I suggest it's important to be curious about cultures, open to differences, and willing to share and be changed as a result of interacting with others. They say it means going to interesting places and sharing their toys and stuff with new friends. Whatever the ages involved, it pretty much all comes down to playing nicely together when we're in the same sandbox .... no matter what its size. Melissa Jones, President, Ultimodule, Inc. I would tell parents that their children are the world's children and, in that regard, raising their children is the most important work of the world. Barbara Kalkis, President, Maestro Communications The greatest mission for me is helping my son be happy, healthy, positive and kind. Eva Kam, Director of Marketing, ChipMD Well let's see. I have a bunch of nephews whom, being British, it is important to remind them to remain sober, as you suggest. But I would say for the column, that I have a favorite motto "Today is the first day of the rest of your life!" which I pass on to anyone that takes the time to listen to me - and sometimes my nephews do. What an interesting thought - if you need to change something, there is no time like the present. What would happen if you applied that to our business? Maybe an uptick in the economy? Dave Kelf, Vice President of Marketing, Novas Software, Inc. What I teach my children (i.e., my nieces and nephews) ... I teach them the sweet rewards of being loving and considerate. I teach them that disco funk is man's highest musical achievement. I teach them to kick ass at bumper cars - Sorry! - and badminton. I teach them to be optimistic, hardworking capitalists. Abbie Kendall, Principal, Armstrong Kendall My husband Kevin and I are determined to teach our children the importance - and great value - of tolerance. The word "tolerance" is itself misleading, implying that differences are something to be endured or allowed. It's essential that all of us treat people from different cultures, socio-economic backgrounds, religions, etc., with equal kindness and respect, going well beyond tolerance and into the realm of complete acceptance and appreciation. I feel blessed to live in Silicon Valley, where we not only enjoy great diversity of people, but can find tremendous value - if we choose it - in seeing things through the eyes of people who are different from ourselves. Kathryn Kranen, CEO, Jasper Design Automation I teach my children that they must become masters of the English language. They are lucky enough to speak as their native tongue the language that has become the "world language." That being so, they must put in the extra effort to employ English in all of its beauty to clearly articulate their thoughts both in written and spoken form. As an aside, I am quite proud that my kids typically have been the first in the various writing tests conducted by our local schools. They didn't used to appreciate my insistence on language, but now they are happy (or so they say) that I was so insistent. Stan Krolikoski, CEO, ChipVision My teenage daughter has heard a lot from me about cultivating a balance in her life - specifically, in terms of physical activity, mental challenges, and overall enjoyment and appreciation of life's 'special' gifts. I try to make this balance real for her in supportive ways. We enjoy playing squash together on the weekends and driving together each day to her challenging private high school. As often as possible, we giggle with delight as we open a can of fois gras - lovingly packaged by her grandmother in France. Alain Labat, President and CEO, Tera Systems, Inc. Basically, my "children" learn, from a very early age, that teaching is far more effective with actions rather than words. At any age, we learn that encouragement and kindness, positive feedback, go much further in shaping a personality than do criticism and negative comments. My "children" and I have both learned that a bond of love is the best teaching mechanism there is, no matter who is the teacher and who is the student. Oh, by the way, my wife and I have six "children" of the feline persuasion and, throughout the years, we have all learned a lot from each other. Jim Lipman, President, SemiView I travel a lot, so when I'm home, I like to be the fun parent. I try to help my children have a sense of humor, to be competitive and outgoing. I think these are necessary characteristics in today's world. I also try to help them with their homework, especially math. But with the homework they're assigned and the way they're being taught, I end up questioning the whole educational system and getting just as frustrated as they do. In return, my children teach me English, laughing as they correct my pronunciation of words. They've also learned to enter things on my PDA calendar using a very special nick name they've given me ... I guess they're learning to have that sense of humor! Rajeev Madhavan, CEO, Magma Design Automation I teach my children: Anything is achievable. You have to earn it. You should not be afraid of failure. Sharad Malik General Chair DAC 2004, Professor of EE at Princeton University What I teach my daughter ... Well, amongst many things, I try to teach her respect. Respect for people, property, and any/all living things. And especially respect for working people, no matter what they do. My dad made me understand that anyone who does an honest day's work for an honest day's pay is worthy of respect. That's something I've tried to pass along to my little girl. David Maliniak, EDA Technology Editor, Electronic Design I am still trying to teach my children the values that I consider important. Certainly courage under fire and the ability to persevere are important, but I think that grace under pressure and respect for others are the qualities that really make a person stand out over time. The ability to share part of yourself with others makes the world less hostile and cold, a behavioral mode that should reduce the number of rude and inconsiderate people out there. Tets Maniwa, Editor-in-Chief, Chip Design Magazine I have been mulling over the question of what I teach my children, and I think my answer is to follow your heart and dreams rather than regretting you didn't do something until it was too late to do so. My two sons both tell me I have never told them that what they want to do in life is impossible or tried to direct them to do something that may be more conventional - therefore my eldest son went to New York to became an actor. After ten years, he returned and is now on the way to becoming an environmental lawyer. My younger son traveled, surfed, climbed mountains, and skydived before recently settling back into college to study finance and economics. Caroline Melnicoff, PR Consultant If you love yourself, others will love you. And then love them back. If you respect yourself, others will respect you. And then give them your respect. Gabe Moretti, Technical Editor, EDA & ASICS, EDN Magazine Since I was a child my father always taught me that the most important thing is to love and respect your family (In my case it's our family). Moreover, he taught me to look forward, to be ambitious, to achieve my goals, to be honest, to be modest and to love and respect the values of our country. In addition, I have learned from him to look at the bright side of life, to make the best of everything and to enjoy my life. Today I'm 21 years old and each day that goes by I thank God that I have such a wonderful father. Daughter of Guy Moshe, CEO and President, Summit Design Our daughter is 12, so our message to her is on the following lines - you have the right ideas and the right values, now go and do your best everyday. You need to work hard, but also work smart so you can be as productive as possible in the time that you have. Daya Nadamuni, Dataquest Gartner Group I believe in teaching my children about the importance of continuous learning, and to gain wisdom through both success and failure. I also encourage them to give 100% to everything they do. There should be NO half-baked efforts in school, sports, or relationships. At every opportunity, I teach them to ask, "Why?" "How does that work?" and "How could I make that better?" Finally, I try to teach them by example to be compassionate and generous in all things. Alan Naumann, President and CEO, CoWare Here is what I hope to teach my son. Find friends who like you for yourself, so that you can focus on having fun instead of trying to impress them. Physical activity/exercise is a fundamental part of your daily life - it brings joy, a healthy body and a healthy mind. Education is the path to better choices later in life. Never do anything that you wouldn't want on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. (passed on to me by a grad school professor) Perfection is never a goal, trying new things and doing your best are all that matter. You can work through almost anything if you can communicate and open your mind. There is a God and he is always there for us, it is okay to ask 'Him' for help. Gloria Nichols, Principal, Launch Marketing We don't have children, we have dogs - usually only two, an old one and a younger one. We recently adopted our 6th rescue dog, a German Shorthair pointer named Mr. Lucky. Our key things to teach him are: - We will work to earn your trust and you must work to earn our trust. - If you can't use a toilet you must go outside. - We don't stare at you while you eat and we don't want you to stare at us when we eat. Pamela Parrish, Executive Director, EDAC Our top priority is to help our children be smarter and understand more than we do. What is some of the secret sauce to achieve this? Long before I had children, I watched other parents and learned that even if the child may not understand, just spending time with them helps, and we let them know every day that our love for them is unlimited and unconditional. Dale Pollek, father of an 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, President and CEO, ChipMD My son is 22 now and he has actually started to ask me questions again. I think I have passed through my 'stupid' phase. Since he is employed in high tech, we actually teach each other. He helps me understand how the Internet is evolving and changing technically, and I help him understand the business implications of these changes. I enjoy the conversations and I encourage him to ask more. It seems to be working. Vin Ratford, President, Giga Scale Integration Corp. I try to teach my children not to rush into marriage. But if you marry, never ask your spouse to choose between you and their family. And don't rush into having children. Children are not the glue for a shaky marriage - marriages survive despite the children, not because of them - and children deserve better. Finally, if you do have children, remember that it's when the child deserves your love the least that the child needs your love the most. Anon in PR I have always taught my daughter to fight bigotry and fanaticism; not to judge people by religion, skin, or language, rather, give them the opportunity to express themselves. I told her - and I do believe it - that the world would be better off with more tolerance and open-mindedness. Lauro Rizzatti, CEO, Emulation and Verification Engineering - USA Shape your view of the world through your understanding of the needs of others. Learning "Please" and "Thank you" isn't just politeness, but the start of learning how to hear yourself and see the world from someone else's perspective. From politeness, move on to service to those around you and to society. Be curious, ask questions, seek to understand what and how and why in everything and everybody you encounter. Demand good answers. Learn to excel at something. There is a world of difference between just demonstrating competence in all the mainstream expected skills, and developing a unique sense of your own enormous potential. It doesn't matter much what that "special something" is - whether it's Legos, playing the cello, fencing, or algebra - they're all equally good. Chris Rowen, CEO, Tensilica What I teach my children is how to use tools - of all forms. Whether it is social tools, woodworking tools, language tools, or software tools, I believe a key to success in the world is knowing how to discern and select the right tool for the job and how to employ it well. My kids know how to fix cars, build with wood, write English, and make Windows work on their computers. Their grounding as skillful tool users will stand them in good stead as our world changes around them. Scott Sandler, President and CEO, Novas Software, Inc. My children (6 and 8 years old) are very busy little girls, reflecting their love of life and learning (as well as their parents' chronic tendencies to over-commit!). Despite their hectic schedule at such young ages, I try to teach them the importance of integrity in all that they do. Integrity is not a piecewise or selective value, but rather a fundamental character trait that once lost, is difficult to regain. More than hard work, more than adhering to ethics in difficult situations - integrity unifies one's basic response pattern to life. If my girls can sense this true connectedness across people, places, and situations in the world, then I can rest easy with the decisions they will make, even on their most hectic of days. Steven Schulz, President and CEO, Silicon Integration Initiative Probably the most important lesson I've taught my kids is to do what is right, no matter how difficult it might be. Case in point: my son backed his truck into another car in a parking lot recently. Instead of leaving the scene, he left a note to the car's owner notifying them of the mishap and my son's contact information. Though the owner was upset, she was complementary of my son's honesty. And even though he will have to pay for the damages, he feels better about himself. In our private lives and in business, these days in particular, it's best to do what is right! James Spoto, President and CEO, Applied Wave Research, Inc. I hope that I'm influencing by example the way my nieces, my nephews and granddaughters relate to the world. Keep an open mind at all times. Use every experience as an opportunity to learn. Embrace change when it makes sense (it'll happen anyway). Be direct, honest and respectful with yourself first, then others. And when all else fails, laugh! It exercises muscles, burns calories and feels good inside. Laurie Stanley, Wired Island PR Actually, I often feel that my children teach me more than I teach them. They teach me how simple and logical life can be, and they keep my negotiating skills sharp! But most important of all, in the midst of whatever apparent crisis I am dealing with; they teach me what is really important. David Stewart, CEO, CriticalBlue What I teach my children: - Character is number one - Integrity is the most important quality for a person. - Always do more than expected - Over deliver and under promise. - Take the initiative to make good things happen instead of waiting for others. - Serve your community and fellow citizens - Make it a habit to solve other people's problems. - Understand the global environment and be curious about other cultures - The world is much bigger than just the United States. Mike Tsai, President and CEO, Axis Systems What I teach my children? First thought: Life DOES come with a manual it's called the Bible. Second thought: The most successful, content, joy-filled people we know in business and in life have the following: - a Pacer: Someone older and more mature who is ahead of you in the journey who can point out life lessons they have learned - a Racer: A peer who is journeying along with you in your life stage who can sharpen and encourage - a Tracer: Someone younger and coming on your heels who can glean from your journey Third thought: When something goes awry (and it will!) don't sulk in the why's. Ask, what can I learn from this? This attitude certainly helped our sons when our house burned down last year - we've all learned a lot. Karen (VitalCom PR) and Dennis Tyrrell, parents of two teenage boys. I tell my kids the world is rich in diversity among its cultures. In the U.S., specifically, there are three factors that WILL make you successful. Nothing else matters - not grades, not which school you went to, or anything like that. These factors are: The art of public speaking; Self-confidence; A hunger for success. Naeem Zafar, President and CEO, Silicon Design Systems, Inc. I don't have kids, just a kitten at this point. What I'm trying to teach him could fill a book, starting with not attacking me and using the sandbox! Come to think of it, that also applies to children. Andrea Zills, Edelman Finally - why I have stopped trying to teach our children In responding to the request for feedback, several people asked me to tell them what I teach our children. In reality, I shudder to think : How to procrastinate. How to have bad penmanship. How not to hang up your clothes at the end of a long day. How to interrupt and interfere. And these are just the good habits - the list of bad ones is even longer. But somehow, despite many efforts to the contrary, they appear to have grown up to be marvelous young people. Our family is probably a lot like yours. Imperfect parents raising perfect children - living out a miracle that seems to repeat itself generation after generation. How it happens is a mystery, but that it happens is as obvious as the children standing before us. So now our kids are 18, 20, and 21, and I think we've finally given up trying to teach them anything. That's not to say we have given up easily, however. The following was posted on our 18-year-old's bedroom door last spring after multiple attempts on the part of his parents to offer food, assistance, and valuable advice during a long weekend of cramming for his four Advanced Placement exams. He's gone off to college now, but the notice still hangs on the door as a reminder to us that our job, at long last, is done. Do not Enter Do not Disturb Do not Knock Do not ask if I need help Do not ignore any of the above Industry News - Tools and IP 0-In Design Automation has released Version 2.1 of its (Assertion-Based Verification) ABV Suite. The company says that the new release supports the use of formal verification in integrated static flows prior to simulation, and that enhancements include additional assertion checkers, two new protocol monitors, support for numerous RTL constructs from the Verilog-2001 standard, and support for assertion constructs from SystemVerilog and the Property Specification Language (PSL). Curtis Widdoes, 0-In Chairman and CTO, is quoted in the Press Release: "Although all our customers using formal verification also use simulation, there are times in a project when simulation may be unavailable. For example, a designer may want to run analysis on a block even before the verification team has set up the simulation environment. The integrated static capabilities in V2.1 allow the designer to get started with verification early in the process, running both automatic design checks and formal verification." 0-In Design Automation also announced that it has released two new items in its portfolio of CheckerWare monitors for standard interconnects. Per the Press Release: "One is an entirely new product and 0-In's first entry specifically geared toward the storage products market - the monitor for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS). 0-In also announced a major upgrade for its PCI-X CheckerWare monitor to conform to the recently announced 2.0 version of the standard. The SAS and PCI-X 2.0 monitors can be used in simulation, including hardware acceleration and emulation, as well as in both static and dynamic formal verification. The two monitors are available with Version 2.1 of the 0-In Assertion-Based Verification Suite." Also from 0-In Design Automation - The company announced that its products aided in the verification of two distinct chipsets at AMD's Dresden Design Center. The companies said that all tools in 0-In's ABV Suite were utilized. The first project was an I/O hub, part of a chipset for the AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Opteron processors. The second project was a network controller that bridges from a PCI interface to wireless Ethernet using the IEEE 802.11b standard, the Am1771. Frank Dresig, Manager of the Design/Verification Department at the Dresden Design Center of AMD Saxony, is quoted in the Press Release: "The chips we develop are highly complex, containing control and data structures with many corner-case behaviors that occur only in very specific circumstances. We selected the 0-In tools to improve our overall development process by adding assertions and formal verification. We were pleased with the results: we increased our tape-out confidence and helped improve our time-to-market, which translated directly to project cost savings." Lastly from 0-In Design Automation - The company announced that Sun Microsystems, Inc. has renewed its corporate license for 0-In's ABV Suite and expanded the license to include all 0-In product offerings. Shrenik Mehta, Sun's director of front-end technologies - ASICs and processors, is quoted: "Since we originally licensed the 0-In products in 2000, they have seen wide adoption throughout Sun's design and verification community. The 0-In tools have been used to help verify both ASIC designs and UltraSPARC microprocessor designs, resulting in significantly faster time-to-market. We are pleased at the progress that 0-In has made in evolving and expanding their product line. We have found their new static products valuable for verifying synchronization across clock domain crossings and mutual exclusion for one-hot multiplexers." Aptix Corp. announced its Pathfinder IP Validation Station, which the company says is "built incorporating a single Altera Stratix FPGA and utilizing Aptix Expeditor Co-emulation technology. Users can choose either a Stratix EP1S30 or EP1S80 configuration. The Aptix Pathfinder IP Validation Station provides a prototyping platform for small, embedded SoC designs or for embedded IP blocks, incorporates an Altera Stratix EP1S30 or EP1S80 FPGA, and provides a capacity of up to 470,000 ASIC logic gates and up to 7.4 million bits of embedded RAM. Because of its compact size - 9.5"x 11.5"x 2.75" - and easy connection to a local workstation, the Pathfinder IP Validation Station is the perfect platform for IP validation and early software development." Charlie Miller, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Aptix, is also quoted in the Press Release: "Many of our customers have requested support for Altera technology. Pathfinder is perfect for design teams that are targeting a final implementation in a Stratix device or want to validate IP blocks running at very high speed. Pathfinder is a joint development with Galaxy Far East Corp., our distributor in Taiwan." Legend Design Technology, Inc. made two announcements this week related to two different foundries: First, the company said that Tower Semiconductor adopted CharFlo-Memory! to implement a quality assurance (QA) methodology for commercially available memory compilers. Based upon layout-extracted circuit data with resistors and capacitors, Legend's CharFlo-Memory! toolset has the capacity to generate accurate on-chip memory instance models at any PVT (process, voltage and temperature) corner. Sergio Kusevitzky, Vice President of Design Services and IP at Tower Semiconductor, is quoted: "SoC designs are becoming increasingly memory dominant as silicon technology rapidly moves to deep sub-micron and nanometer levels. Tower Semiconductor has put in place a memory quality assurance (QA) flow that minimizes the growing gap between the foundry and IP provider, and enables our customers to achieve time-to-market goals for their SOC designs. We have successfully used Legend tools to QA our wide portfolio of memory compilers from leading IP vendors. Tower Semiconductor uses Legend's memory characterization tool, CharFlo-Memory!, to efficiently produce memory models that reflect the reality of the silicon." Legend Design also announced that UMC has adopted its CharFlo-Memory! toolset for "customer silicon success" on the foundry's process technology. Based on layout-extracted circuit data with resistors and capacitors, Legend's CharFlo-Memory! toolset has the capacity to generate accurate on-chip memory instance models at any PVT (process, voltage and temperature) corner. Patrick Lin, Chief SOC Architect at UMC, is quoted, "Memory is becoming increasingly important as SOC designs evolve. UMC is helping designers overcome time-to-market hurdles by providing easy access to third-party memory compilers to generate the IP blocks ready for integration into customer designs. Nowadays, generic CMOS technology has diversified into multiple variants such as high speed, low power, and high density, etc. Most importantly, each and every process variant now needs to have its own characterization. Since each process variant is slightly different from the others, it is necessary to re-characterize them for the specific process to be used - this to ensure desired performance and silicon yield. For the 'what-if' analysis on any PVT corner, Legend's CharFlo-Memory! has automated the characterization task and accomplished it accurately and efficiently. UMC now has the means to easily verify the impact a process change might have on memory IP function and reliability." Magma Design Automation Inc. announced that ClearSpeed Technology "achieved first-pass silicon success on the CS301 floating-point chip using Blast Fusion APX, Blast Noise and Blast Rail. The 40-million-transistor, 0.13-micron CS301 is the highest performance floating-point chip in the world, performing 25 billion floating-point operations a second." Russell David, Vice President of Engineering at ClearSpeed, is quoted: "The CS301 is an extremely complex device with stringent power requirements. The Magma system provided a correct-by-construction approach to power, signal integrity and physical design. Its tight integration and unified data model gave us great visibility into the design. We could understand the decisions the system was making so when we got an unexpected result we could quickly identify what we could do better to eliminate the problem. In just three months we were able to deliver a design with incredible performance and stunningly low power." MathStar and Summit Design announced availability of Visual Elite SystemC based libraries for MathStar's Silicon Objects technology. The companies say that MathStar libraries allow designers to easily use SystemC ESL tools while targeting their designs at MathStar's family of FPOAs - Field Programmable Object Arrays - and that MathStar will target applications domains which use customized mixes of object types, on-chip memory resources, and high-performance I/O. Per the Press Release: "FPOA devices offer a solution to companies caught between the issues of ASIC development cost and the performance limitations of conventional FPGA architectures. The FPOA design process dramatically simplifies conventional chip design flows by using the revolutionary NoGates approach to design. With NoGates, hardware accurate SystemC models from Summit Design's industry leading Visual Elite are directly mapped into the FPOA architecture. This eliminates synthesis and associated gate-level place and route timing closure steps. The simplified design methodology, coupled with the 1 GHz deterministic clock rate for the FPOA, opens a whole new set of cost-effective, high-performance applications to field programmable products. Mentor Graphics Corp. announced availability of the Seamless Hardware/Software Co-Verification Processor Support Packages (PSPs) for PMC-Sierra's RM7000 and RM7900 64-bit families of MIPS-based microprocessors. Product development is described as having arisen from close collaboration between the two companies. The companies say that the new Support Packages permit creation of virtual prototypes to validate that hardware and software work together in RM7000 and RM7900 series-based designs, including networking and storage applications, advanced consumer electronics and office equipment such as printers and digital copiers - "Validating interfaces and analyzing performance prior to fabrication, systems designers can shave months off their development processes by speeding up the integration process, minimizing redesign cycles, and ensuring optimum system performance." Also from Mentor Graphics - The company announced the availability of the Engineering Change Order (ECO) Cockpit integrated into the company's IC Station custom IC layout environment. Per the Press Release: "The ECO Cockpit offers significant productivity benefits by enabling IC designers to rapidly identify changes in a design's logic source versus existing layout, and easily fix the changes, either interactively or automatically, with the click of a button. As design complexity increases and cycle times shrink, physical design often starts well before the logic design is finalized. Consequently, ECOs - which occur when specifications change after layout has begun - are both necessary and common. ECOs may include changes such as modifications to instances, net connections and names, device properties and types, or the addition or deletion of devices and components." "While ECOs are very common in custom IC design, finding and fixing them in the layout has traditionally been a slow, cumbersome process that decreases layout productivity and often causes significant delays in the design cycle. The new ECO Cockpit enables designers to automatically compare differences between a revised logic source - either a schematic or netlist - and the current layout, rather than manually searching for them. The tool provides a detailed report on all ECOs categorized by the type of change. Then it allows users to visually cross-probe to find the location of each change, and selectively fix the change or ignore it if it does not affect the layout. Designers can choose to utilize the ECO Cockpit's automated features to fix each discrepancy with the click of a mouse, or do so manually, using the IC Station tool's editing and routing features. In both cases, users retain full control over the final outcome to ensure custom-quality layout." This is pretty interesting stuff. MIPS Technologies, Inc. announced that Broadcom's MIPS-based design wins in Echostar's satellite DISH 322 and DISH Player-DVR 522 products increased market leadership within the digital set-top box market. Per the Press Release: "Digital set-top-boxes and integrated digital TVs are at the center of the fast-growing consumer electronics marketplace. Accordingly, leading OEMs and semiconductor companies serving this opportunity are challenged to provide innovative new products that incorporate the latest features - such as entertainment-on-demand, interactive and real-time participation and PVR functionality - within shrinking market windows." Sandwork Design, Inc. announced that Hynix Semiconductor Inc. has adopted Sandwork's SPICE Explorer and WaveView Analyzer to debug analog and mixed-signal semiconductor designs in both the Memory and System IC divisions. Hynix is described in the Press Release as a "world-class semiconductor manufacturer and one of the world's largest DRAM producers." Seong Kwan Hong, CIO and Vice President of Hynix Semiconductor, is quoted: "WaveView Analyzer was the fastest and most capable tool we could find for interpreting the results of our gigabyte-sized SPICE and Verilog simulations. We were especially impressed with its fast loading speed and versatile analysis functions. It works seamlessly with our existing design and verification flows, and it supports all the waveform formats we use." Good news indeed. Synplicity Inc. has released Identify RTL version 1.3, an enhanced version of the company's debugging software developed "to further accelerate FPGA hardware debugging." Brian Caslis, Director of Marketing at Synplicity is quoted: "The Identify RTL debugging software has been enhanced with the addition of a new source code encapsulation and encryption feature. This new ability to encapsulate or package the RTL source for debugging allows designers to easily transfer projects to PCs in a lab without network access. The new version of the software also uses Blowfish encryption technology to optionally allow the RTL source code to be encrypted, allowing designers to debug hardware even in unsecure environments. This version of the Identify software also features multiple debugger synchronization, allowing multiple debuggers to be run on the same PC, talking to the same hardware board via a single JTAG connection and waiting for triggers to happen. This feature is especially useful on boards with multiple devices where designers want to test for multiple asynchronous conditions." TriCN announced the immediate availability of its Reduced Latency (RL) DRAM II interface, which the company describes as the latest member of its Interface Specific I/O (ISI/O) product family. The interface is based on High Speed Transistor Logic (HSTL)-18 I/O pads targeted for RLDRAM II applications, the interface is capable of up to 800 Mb/s operation, and is backward compatible with the original RLDRAM interface. Per the Press Release: "RLDRAM II technology offers low random Read/Write Cycle Times similar to that of SRAMs, making it an attractive choice for high bandwidth communications and storage applications, including Switches, Routers, and Server caches. TriCN's RLDRAM II interface is optimized for high-speed operation with a double data rate I/O for increased bandwidth, and offers dedicated I/O structures for Data, Clock and Address." UMC announced a "breakthrough" Electromagnetic Design Methodology (EMDM) for RFCMOS designs that uses a combination of electromagnetic (EM) analysis tools working in conjunction with each other to reduce simulation cycle times from "hours to just minutes." The company says it's new methodology, eliminates what has traditionally been a tremendous time and resource intensive commitment for RF designers. The methodology was also created to greatly reduce overall development cycle times and costs for customers designing RFCMOS ICs. Per the Press Release: "While most silicon foundries are still struggling to provide reliable, accurate RFCMOS design models and passive component libraries, UMC's EMDM includes process-related information for EM simulation, allowing customers to design their own inductors with fast, accurate, and low-cost features. EMDM includes the use of a variety of industry-recognized electromagnetic analysis tools, including Ansoft's leading HFSS 3D simulation software. The EMDM allows engineers to easily and accurately create any RF structure, such as spiral inductors, in their design without going through several wafer splits and the painful tasks of measurement, data fitting and modeling. UMC has already demonstrated the effectiveness of its EMDM with the successful creation of a 'Virtual Inductor Library.'" Coming soon to a theater near you ... a 2004 sampler International CES 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show January 8th to 11th Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, NV ( www.ces.org ) ASP-DAC 2004 Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference January 27th to 30th Pacifico Yohokama Yokohama, Japan ( www.aspdac.com ) DesignCon 2004 February 2nd to 5th Santa Clara Convention Center Santa Clara, CA ( www.designcon.com ) ISSCC 2004 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference February 15th to 19th San Francisco Marriott Hotel San Francisco, CA ( www.isscc.org/isscc/ ) DATE 2004 Design, Automation and Test in Europe February 16th to 20th CNIT La Defense Paris, France ( www.date-conference.com ) DVCon 2004 International Conference on Using Hardware Design and Verification Languages March 1st to 3rd DoubleTree Hotel San Jose, CA ( www.dvcon.org ) WSD 2004 Wireless Systems Design Conference & Expo March 8th to 10th San Diego Convention Center San Diego, CA ( www.wsdexpo.com ) PCB West PCB Design Conference West March 15th to 19th San Jose Convention Center San Jose, CA ( www.pcbwest.com ) Embedded Systems Conference Several venues Several hemispheres ( www.esconline.com ) DAC 2004 Design Automation Conference June 7th to 11th San Diego Convention Center San Diego, CA ( www.dac.com ) Newsmakers EDAC news - hot off the presses: "The EDA Consortium's Market Statistics Service (MSS) : announced that EDA industry revenue for the third quarter of 2003 was $950 million. This is the third consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth, and represents an increase of 1 percent over last quarter and a 1 percent decrease when compared to Q3 2002. In addition, EDA industry employment increased 4% during the quarter when compared to the previous quarter. Reporting EDA companies employed 19,300 professionals in Q3 2003, up from 18,600 in Q2. This was 4% more than the 18,600 employed by reporting companies in Q3 last year." Walden Rhines, Chairman of EDAC and Chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics, is quoted: "The EDA industry continued to show very slight year-to-date revenue growth through the first nine months of 2003. While North America declined, we saw growth in demand for EDA in all other regions. Western Europe turned the corner in Q3: after seven quarters of flat-to-down revenue results, the region posted a year-over-year revenue increase in Q3, pulling ahead of Japan for EDA consumption in the quarter." Altium Ltd. announced the establishment of a representative office and a strengthened reseller network in China. Per the Press Release: "The strengthened network of Chinese resellers comprises of: an expanded role for MCU Beijing Open Lab (BOL) System Inc. as the official reseller for the Northern provinces; the appointment of Shanghai Sunwei Co. Ltd. as the official reseller for the Eastern provinces; and the appointment of Shenzhen Chinasky Technology Co. Ltd. as the official reseller for the Southern provinces. Altium's representative office in China will be established in January 2004, and based in Shanghai." Kayvan Oboudiyat, CEO of Altium, is quoted: "We see China as a very important market because their electronics design market is rapidly growing - in both sophistication and size - it is fast becoming an important global center for electronics design. However, to keep up with demand and remain internationally competitive, engineers in China need access to powerful and professional design tools at affordable prices that enable them to take advantage of the latest design technologies. In order to serve this need, we decided to actively restructure our reseller network in China and establish relationships that provide increased support for both our resellers and customers based in China." Applied Wave Research, Inc. (AWR) and the SoC Technology Center of Industrial Technology Research Institute (STC/ITRI), a non-profit research and development organization, announced a partnership whereby AWR will provide radio frequency (RF) EDA tools and services to a new SoC design center in Taiwan, the Nankang SoC Design Park. The company says it is the only RF EDA vendor selected for participation in the design center in the initial stage, which will be used by new fabless design houses in Taiwan. Alan Su, ITRI Technical Manager of IP technology and design automation at the Nankang SoC Design Park, is quoted in the Press Release: "Sophisticated RF tools and flow are needed to complete large, complex mixed-signal SoCs and to ensure the design will work before it gets into fabrication. AWR products are specifically architected and optimized from the ground up to extend the range of possible analog and RF design solutions to meet this challenge." Also from AWR - The company announced that NTT Advanced Technology Corp. (NTT-AT) will provide AWR products and support to electronic systems and IC designers in Japan. NTT-AT was founded in 1979 as a subsidiary of NTT, which is described as the largest telecommunications service provider in Japan. Ron Patston, Vice President of Asia Pacific operations for AWR, is quoted: "The agreement with NTT-AT complements AWR's existing distribution partnership with Cybernet Systems. Cybernet will focus on the RF and microwave market with Microwave Office design suite while NTT-AT will broaden AWR's presence by providing IC and communications system design software." Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced that the CVR College of Engineering's Center for Excellence in VLSI design, Andhra Pradesh, India, will receive the company's VLSI design software through CVR's University Software Program. Per the Press Release: "The Center will have industry-standard state-of-art VLSI EDA tools. Cadence is also providing a ready-to-deploy semester-long curriculum on the digital implementation flow for SoC designs, supported by the 'Train the Trainer' program, in which Cadence application engineers train faculty on Cadence tools. In addition to instructing CVR students, the Center will train the faculty of other engineering colleges via short-term/certificate courses. This will enable the students of CVR to be readily absorbed by the VLSI design industry due to the fact that they are exposed to the latest industry-leading EDA tools." Himanshu Singh, Executive Director, India & SAARC Countries, Cadence Design Systems Pvt. Ltd., is also quoted: "Through our University Software Program, Cadence continues to demonstrate its commitment to enhancing the quality and quantity of electrical engineers in India. Our engagement with CVR further emphasizes this, and it will benefit the Indian electronic design industry by enhancing the pool of VLSI design engineers." Elliptic Semiconductor announced that Microtek has become a member of the Elliptic Alliance Partner Program (EAPP), and that as a member of the program, Microtek will distribute and support Elliptic's security and protocol processors in Japan through its professional sales and applications engineering staff. Microtek has offices in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, and distributes AMD, SST, Intersil (now Conexant) and Dallas Semiconductor (now Maxim) products in Japan. Sadao Honda, Board of Director for Marketing of Microtek, is quoted in the Press Release: "Elliptic Semiconductor offers extremely valuable and timely semiconductor IP products that are ideally suited for Japanese customers. We are pleased to introduce our new semiconductor IP distribution business with these products and a company of Elliptic's reputation and capabilities." Giga Scale Integration Corp. (Giga Scale IC) announced that Virage Logic Corp. will deploy Time Architect throughout its sales and field support organization. The companies say this will improve Virage Logic's selling model by enabling its sales force to advise customers early in the design process. The companies also say that Virage Logic's sales and applications engineering groups will learn how to use Time Architect through automated, online training available from Giga Scale IC. Giga Scale IC says it will provides technical support during sales engagements and that it will sell full Time Architect models of Virage Logic's semiconductor IP platforms with Time Architect to Virage Logic licensees - these models will be bundled together with additional IP and the Time Architect software. Raj Singh, Vice President of Sales at Virage Logic, is quoted: "Using Time Architect, our sales team will be able to help customers estimate their entire chip and the overall benefits of Virage Logic's semiconductor IP platform offering in the context of a full system-on-chip design. In addition, Time Architect can be used to determine how to best leverage Virage Logic's Self-Test and Repair (STAR) Memory System to dramatically increase yield, saving millions over a production run of a sophisticated consumer electronics chip. Customers can then decide which memories and libraries provide the best economic value." InTime Software Inc. announced that it has relocated its corporate headquarters from Cupertino, CA, to Sunnyvale, CA, and that the new headquarters will accommodate the company's growing team. Robert Smith, InTime's President and CEO, is quoted in the Press Release: "Demand for Time Director is driving the need to expand the team and the move to a more modern and centrally located facility. This demand confirms our view that the electronics industry is rebounding. More important, it confirms that we've created a product that's helping to accelerate this rebound." Open Core Protocol International (OCP-IP) happily reports that the organization is now two-years old and that more than 1,000 copies of the specification have been shipped. The association provides a common standard for IP core interfaces - sockets - that facilitate plug-and-play SoC design. OCP-IP says it has doubled its membership roster in the past year, including Alcatel, Amphion, Beach Solutions, Cadence, CoWare, Hughes, LSI Logic, Micronas, TNI-Valiosys, eInfochips, Imagination Technologies, STMicroelectronics, TSMC, U.C. Berkeley, University of British Columbia, Tampere University of Technology in Finland, Swedish Royal Institute of Technology and the Taiwan Science Council. Additionally, OCP-IP announced that Summit Design has now joined as the organization's newest member. Ian Mackintosh, President of OCP-IP is quoted: "Despite a difficult economic climate, OCP-IP has seen its membership base expand rapidly during its brief two year history because it offers tremendous ROI to members through the availability of free tools, training and technical support necessary to quickly make IP cores OCP-compliant and ready for rapid SoC integration with other third-party IP." ReShape, Inc. announced that Michael Faust has been appointed Vice President of Worldwide Sales. He will report directly to Jim Douglas, ReShape President and CEO. Faust has 15 years of sales and marketing experience in the semiconductor design and manufacturing industries. Before joining ReShape, he was with Cadence Design Systems, where he received the 2002 "Big Bang Award," the company's top worldwide sales award. Prior to Cadence, Faust was with VeriBest, Inc. and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. He has an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BSEE from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. RF Engines Ltd. was named "Start Up Company of the Year" in the 2003 European Electronics Industry Awards. Per the Press Release: "2004 has now got off to a flying start [as well] with the announcement of two more contracts. The first is with one of the leading defense companies in Turkey. For commercial reasons, details of the customer and the specific application are not available for publication. However, what can be revealed is that RFEL is supplying a design from its Vectis 'Quadspeed' range of high performance Radix 2 pipelined FFT signal processing designs, this particular design having a 400Ms/s sample rate complex input, and is to be used for a surveillance application. The RFEL Vectis pipelined FFT design range are relevant where high sample rate real-time processing is demanded, and are particularly relevant for design into electronic warfare, radar, sonar, surveillance and communication systems." Tharas Systems, Inc. announced that it has received $4 million in a round of funding led by NeoCarta Ventures, with Synopsys and current investors participating. Tharas says it plans to use the proceeds for development of its next-generation Hammer product, and to expand its worldwide sales and support channels. Andre Turenne, Managing Director of NeoCarta Ventures, is quoted in the Press Release: "We are very excited about investing in Tharas Systems. Tharas' ground-breaking hardware accelerator is rapidly gaining market acceptance. We see Tharas re-defining the market with its new generation of acceleration solutions." Turenne will join current board members, Prabhu Goel, Raj Singh, N. Damodar Reddy, Tharas CEO Rahm Shastry, and Tharas CTO and co-founder Subbu Ganesan on the company's Board of Directors. In the category of ... Letter to the Editor Hello Peggy, I always enjoy your articles and I noticed that you get a lot of feedback with respect to the age of engineers. I don't believe that age is relevant, but it is talent and what you do with this talent that matters. Bright engineers do understand how they can become even better. The brightest engineer that I know is 51 years old and he is getting better each day. And I'm very lucky that he is working for me. Regards, Cor Schepens What I continue to learn from my mother My mother is a petite 81-year-old white-haired lady. But if by the looks of her you presumed she was an elderly grandmotherly type, you'd be dead wrong. After the September 11th attacks, she doubled her efforts to keep her Friendship Circle going. She and my late father helped to found their Friendship Circle under the auspices of the United Religions Initiative, a group based on the U.N model which attempts to build communication between the world's great Faith Traditions in order to foster hope and counteract hatred. My mother's Friendship Circle meets once a month, where they teach each other about their various traditions and philosophies. There are Muslims and Jews and Hindus and B'hais and Buddhists and Taoists and several flavors of Christians, and undoubtedly some from Faith Traditions that I'm unaware of in the group. Also in the aftermath of the attacks, my mother renewed her efforts with members of her church to establish an annual scholarship and awards dinner to honor two local high school seniors each year. The winners are chosen based on an essay, which addresses things like "Peace in a World of Hate" or "Love in an Intolerant World." When the first dinner was drawing near in 2002, I sat and watched my mother folding and assembling programs for the upcoming event. I read through the program, looked at the names of the speakers, and said, "Hey, Mom, this is pretty cool. It's kinda like Noah's Ark. You've got one of every kind here. You've got a Jew and a Muslim and Protestant Preacher/Civil Rights activist on the after-dinner panel. And the moderator's a Buddhist scholar. Oh and wait - from the names here, it looks like one of the scholarship winners is Indian. Maybe he's Hindu and if you're lucky this other kid's a Catholic. It really is just like Noah's Ark." My mother kept working. "But you know, Mom. Do you really think anybody's going to learn anything at this dinner? I mean, everybody's going to just stand up and say a lot of platitudes about how we should all get along and the world would be better if we could all be kind to each other - all the usual stuff. You know, nobody's really going to learn anything." My mother stopped and turned slowly towards me. She gave me The Look. Uh oh, I thought. I'm in trouble. "Well, Peggy," she said very slowly. "What exactly would you have me do? What exactly are any of us supposed to do? How exactly are we to going to go about healing the wounds of this tired old world? How can we solve anything if we don't listen to each other and learn to respect each other for the goodness that we all represent? I don't have an answer. Do you? Yes, the dinner is probably silly. Yes, the speakers are probably idealist. But I don't know how else to try to reach out to people. Do you? These are all grand, grand people and I look forward to hearing from each and every one of them. You don't have to come if you don't want to. Nobody does." She kept looking at me. I looked down at my shoes, shamed into silence in the face of her fierce optimism and faith in the integrity of humankind. So in honor of what my mother continues to teach me, I end with words from Shirin Ebadi, this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I extend best wishes to all of you for a wonderful Holiday season, whatever your Holiday may be, and look forward to seeing you all back in this space on January 12th. "A human being divested of all dignity, a human being deprived of human rights, a human being gripped by starvation, a human being beaten by famine, war and illness, a humiliated human being and a plundered human being is not in any position or state to recover the rights he or she has lost. If the 21st century wishes to free itself from the cycle of violence, acts of terror and war, and avoid repetition of the experience of the 20th century - that most disaster-ridden century of humankind - there is no other way except by understanding and putting into practice every human right for all mankind, irrespective of race, gender, faith, nationality or social status." --Peggy Aycinena is a Contributing Editor and can be reached by clicking here . You are registered as: [dolinsky@gsu.by]. CafeNews is a service for EDA professionals. EDACafe respects your online time and Internet privacy. To change your newsletter's details, including format and frequency, or to discontinue this service, please navigate to . If you have questions about EDACafe services, please send email to edaadmin@ibsystems.com . Copyright c 2003, Internet Business Systems, Inc. - 11208 Shelter Cove, Smithfield, VA 23420 - 888-44-WEB-44 - All rights reserved.