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Maybe it was just me, but the energy level at the 47th Design Automation Conference was higher than it’s been in a number of years.  It could have been a combination of things - general signs of an exit from The Great Recession; the M&A activity in the industry; a new market approach from Cadence got everyone a-buzz; and everywhere I went I heard discussions about Cloud Computing (and it wasn’t just because I was stood there ).

Bernie Meyerson, vice president of innovation at IBM, made a keynote speech on Wednesday that was wide ranging, but spent a great deal of time asserting that Cloud Computing is the future of IC Design.  Richard Goering wrote this up nicely on his blog here.  You should take a look.  The full keynote video is here, pick up what Dr. Meyerson had to say about the Cloud at around minute 38:00.

A crucial point to emphasize from Dr. Meyerson’s speech is the real issue at the heart of the computing challenge facing all industries, not just electronic design - IT resource overhead.  While it is tempting, as engineers, to focus on the technology of cloud computing (performance, upload time, latency, security, etc.) it is this business aspect of the equation that is the driver.  ie. The Total Cost of Ownership of data centers is out of control - driving a company’s balance sheet in the wrong direction.

If you missed the panel “Does IC Design Have a Future in the Clouds?“, don’t worry.  It was videoed and should be coming online soon.  For me, it was great fun to participate with a tremendous amount of interaction with the audience.  To the point where the Chair (Raul Camposano) had to cut off questions from the floor.  (He almost cut of Harry “The ASIC Guy“, but he was saved by the crowd.)  Richard Goering mentioned on his blog that he will put up a post about the panel soon, but in the meantime, you can catch a write-up of some of the highlights over at EETimes by Nicolas Mokhoff here.

If you were at the show, what were your impressions?  If you weren’t able to make it - did the various online channels get you what you needed?
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Posted under Xuropa, industry

I’m sure there are very few people in EDA marketing departments with the time to read blogs this week, never mind write one - about 96 hours from now the show floor of DAC will open in San Francisco and all their work for the past six months will be front and center.  (No one really thinks about DAC seriously until January is out of the way.)

Anyway, the pressure is off Xuropa.  Being online and available globally 24/7 definitely has its advantages

We won’t have a booth, but we will be there walking the floor talking to vendors and users about what we could do to help their business or experience on the Xuropa Platform.  If you see me walking the floor I’d love to hear your feedback - it’s a great opportunity to meet people that have a passion for EDA, SaaS, and the future of the business of the semiconductor design industry.

If we don’t bump into each other on the exhibition floor (or at the Denali Party), stop by the ChipEstimate booth (#1100) at the below times.  The Cadence Verification IP team will be presenting their products and providing attendees the ability to use the products for themselves on the show floor - using their Xuropa Online Labs.

They haven’t had to worry about installing PC’s and testing them just before the exhibit opens.   Everything is all ready to go and sat up on the Xuropa Platform.  They’ll be using the ChipEstimate PCs with just a browser on the day.  Of course, once the show is over the demos will still be available 24/7 for anyone in the world to continue to go into the Lab and trial Cadence products - a beautiful thing.

So, here are the times.  Susan Peterson will be presenting and I’ll be stood in the wings to answer any questions and get feedback during the demo sessions.

• Monday at 2pm
• Tuesday at 2pm
• Wednesday at 1pm
• Thursday at 10:30am

Enjoy the show, and hope to see you there!

- James

Posted under Xuropa, business, industry, marketing

I had lunch with a friend of mine last week - one of the best recruiters I know.  Obviously due to not many companies hiring, as effective as she is, she is not having an easy time getting paid for her services these days.  She was however bragging about a company that she’s still working with.  When I asked her how that company is doing, she responded saying “well, they had a great CES.”

I hear that all the time.  ”We had a great CES” … “We had a great DAC” … “We had a great SEMI” ….. And I always wonder what that really means.  To me it’s very comic because in none of these phrases the word “great” is defined, so no one is really wrong about the statement and it totally depends on their perspective and more importantly their (sometimes low) standards.

At the same time, I have heard a few VP’s of sales quoted saying “there are two types of leads: my contacts, and useless ones!”  I actually found that statement more ludicrous than the “we had a great CES” statement [No wonder sales guys get such a bad rap!].  This statement is merely an attempt by some sales VP’s to explain why they can’t start sales engagements with people they don’t already have a relationship with.  All a good sales guy needs to start an engagement is a phone number and phone.  Nevertheless, the industry is full of sales guys who constantly sell themselves based on their rolodex - and unfortunately the industry is also full of VC’s who buy that [stuff].

What everyone seems to miss is something that I have been using in my consulting practice.  There is a difference between “leads” and “touches”.  Most people who visit your stand at the trade shows are “touches”.  ”Leads” are those who 1) have understood your value proposition, and 2) would (at some point) fall in your target segment.  In consumer marketing, the difference between the two is rather small: value propositions are easier to understand, and based on demographics it’s relatively simple to know when and how to approach the lead.  In high tech marketing, the difference between the two is so large that it could cause startups to fail or larger companies to totally miss the market.

Unfortunately most marketing executives measure the success of a trade show by the number of “touches”.  Touches cannot be counted on as whether a target audience is grasping your value proposition and more importantly how it all translates into sales activity.  For the most part, the more gimmicky your stand is the more touches you’ll have.  Touches just represents how many people came to the stand (for whatever reason).  It could even include a lot of your competitors.

The real challenge is knowing shortly after a trade show who the leads were.  This requires knowing every touch’s profile, behavior, and experience.  If you knew someone who came to your stand was in the market for similar products, you’d immediately know that he or she is a lead.  This information is however not readily available till months after traditional trade shows.  So I personally believe the value of traditional trade shows gets diluted as more and more people (high quantity) attend them and as it becomes more and more difficult to know about the attendees (less quality).

What comes into picture is new technology.  With online communities and their trade shows, the profile, background, experience, (purchase) behavior of visitors is readily available.  These modern (online) trade shows also enable a wider reach, a 24/7 approach, and lower cost.  A good example of these online community and trade shows is Xuropa.  Xuropa has created a community of the individuals and companies in the electronic design ecosystem.  It also hosts many trade show style stands, suites, and labs for companies to offer a view into their technology - but the real difference is that companies can easily see who the visitors are and quickly qualify the right ones from a touch to a leads.

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“We had a great Xuropa” - people around the industry will soon be saying!

Posted under Xuropa, business, career, industry, marketing