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Richard Goering, the famed Industry Insights editor for Cadence, posted an interesting analysis of how Cadence is using the Xuropa Platform.  The openening paragraph summed it up quite nicely:

“Evaluating EDA software or silicon IP is an arduous process that often requires negotiated license agreements, software downloads, installation, and the physical presence of a jet-lagged AE who just flew across the country. What if you could run an evaluation instantly on line, and skip all that? That’s what Cadence is working with independent web site Xuropa to provide – and the end result could impact the way in which EDA software and silicon IP is evaluated and sold.”

Richard Goering Industry Insights Blog

As you can tell from the timeline, Cadence was very thorough in their approach to the Xuropa Platform and have already seen great dividends since they launched back in May.  Regarding the end-user response, Susan Peterson (VIP Portfolio Marketing Director, Cadence) noted in an interview with Richard:

“The user response so far has been really, really good,” she said. She noted that users are spread throughout the world, with many from Asia, where it’s difficult to physically bring in AEs to run demos. “Engineers don’t really want to leave their desks, and they like being able to do things when they want to do things,” she said. “Engineers like to get their hands on stuff – to not just read a datasheet, but get on line and try something out.”

For the whole article click here.

To check out one of Cadence’s Online Labs click here.

Posted under News, industry

In response to a cloud computing question I posted to an online forum discussion a concern was raised about security.  Here is the unedited response in full:

“I think cloud computing is extreamly dangerous. There are enough problems with viruses now. IF people were able to exploite holes in componants use din cloud modules or even write systems with back doors in would anyone be sure thyey have a sucure or safe system?”

As I noted in previous posts, security is indeed one of the key drivers of the adoption of cloud computing.  And trust will be a crucial ingredient in the “crossing of the chasm” of this technology and use model.

There is always mistrust of new technologies.  (Did you know that in the very early days of the motor car some scientists believed that passengers would suffocate at speeds over 20 mph?)  Some mistrust is well placed and drives innovative counter measures.  Others will need greater familiarity with the technology and leaders to follow.

To address the first aspect of the posters concern though - viruses and their contagion.

For a virus to be communicated three things need to occur.

1. Placement of the virus at the source.
2. Inadvertent download of the virus by the user.
3. Execution of the virus on the local machine.

There are three parties one could imagine placing the virus within the remote hosted application in the cloud: the cloud computing host company, the vendor of the hosted software, and users of the hosted software.  For a cloud computing company to go to all of the time and expense in developing sophisticated cloud computing platforms such as Xuropa’s Online Labs just to spread a virus is nonsensical.  Like-wise, for the owner of the electronic design software to place a virus within the Online Lab they are using does not make any sense whatsoever.  The last suspect, other users, could have the motive, but they will not have the means.

Consider the use model of a Cloud Computing-based EDA tool in the context of a Xuropa Online Lab as an example.  Every time the remote tool is accessed through a lab session, the environment is provisioned fresh and new from an image that is created by the tool vendor and Xuropa engineers for the Online Lab.  This image is inaccessible to a user.

While the session is active, only users that are explicitly invited into the lab session can have access to the work being carried out by the person who initiated the session.  There is no way for someone to sneak in via a “backdoor”.

If the user was malicious and did upload a virus to the Online Lab they would be very disappointed.  After every lab session has ended all data is erased, all processes on the lab are terminated and a thorough clean of the remote environment is carried out.

The Online Labs hosted on the Xuropa Platform today are even more secure in that they do not provide any upload or download capabilities by design.  No code is executed locally.  This talks to the gradual progression to the cloud of a previous post.  There are great benefits to be gained by leveraging cloud computing without leaping straight into design and development.  Training, demonstrations, workshops, pre-evaluation, and technical support to name just a few.

Which brings me to a follow up observation: mailing of CD’s for evaluation.

Today I opened the EDA Tech Forum magazine and it contained a CD from a nameless EDA vendor.  At the bottom of the CD is written “Every effort has been made to ensure that this disk is virus-free. “XYZ Company” is not responsible for any disruption, damage and/or loss to your data or system that may occur while using this CD.  As with all software we recommend running a virus scanner before use.”

I’m sure that this CD is fine.  The probability of it containing a virus is very, very low.  However, the reason why the lawyers of XYZ Company told their marketing department to include that disclaimer is because of control.  More specifically, it is because of the lack of control.  Once that CD leaves the door of the vendor they don’t know where it could go and through how many hands it will pass.  It is highly unlikely that they burned the CD themselves either.  They will have used a service provider that stamps out CD’s with the label by the hundreds at low cost.  Again, another point of loss of control that keeps the lawyers up at night.

However, with a Xuropa Online Lab you not only have complete control over the environment and who uses it, you also don’t have to go to the wasted expense of sending out hundreds and thousands of CD’s to people that have no interest in the product at all.  (Not a very green approach either.)

So in summary, the cloud is extremely secure.  It is in everybody’s best interest to make it even more secure.  For those malcontents with too much time on their hands life will actually get more limited with a move to the cloud.

You can reduce your overall marketing costs, decrease your “carbon footprint”, and let your lawyers sleep easier by moving to the cloud.

Keep control and keep lawyer fees to a minimum - not a bad thought going into the new year.

Click here to register for the Xuropa Online Electronic Design Community

Posted under Features, Xuropa, business, industry, marketing

Today at lunch with Gary Smith of Gary Smith EDA it was great to hear someone with not only a positive outlook for electronic design, but an enthusiastic one!  Of course the caveat - you have to be looking at the situation in the right way.

Challenges = Opportunities…and electronic design has a lot of challenges ahead of it.

This was too good not to share.

The conversation wound all over the landscape of the industry, dropping in to focus on some key points: EDA, ESL, and the need for integration with the embedded systems part of the supply chain.  Here are some of the main points of our discussion from memory.  Hopefully I captured them accurately and trust Gary to correct me if I go astray.  I’ve then expanded on some points that we didn’t have time to get to.

As you can imagine, there was a lot to capture and rather than turn a blog-post into a dissertation I’ve split it up.  Come back and see the rest in subsequent posts.

Globalization, Pace and Product Evaluations

The conversation started with a description of how the Xuropa Platform came to be, which lead to a discussion of some important fundamentals.  The electronic design industry is more global and dynamic than it has ever been.  Thus there needs to be a different approach to getting products in front of engineers to educate.  Gary split semiconductor vendors into essentially two camps - those that require a “high-touch” process and those that can be served with a “low-touch” process.

The “high-touch” vendors are the top “30″ that are well known and understood.  The challenge is not so much knowing who to call, but engaging at the right time within their development process.  There’s essentially a three month window when design teams can evaluate new technologies - if that window is missed, you’re done.

I’d add another logistical inhibitor to a smooth process here - group buy-in, or “socialization”.  As tools or IP are acquired by a design group, it is now likely that the group itself is split over multiple geographies.  There are also up-stream and down-stream teams that will be impacted directly or indirectly.  Therefore, we need to accommodate engaging with multiple teams spread out all over the globe as we work to get a new technology to be adopted by a company.

We probably don’t even know most of the “low-touch” semiconductor vendors.  They’re distributed all over the world, and more are coming up all the time.  These smaller providers find new niches to exploit, leverage existing and open source tools and the semiconductor infrastructure that has been built up over the past 50+ years.

Building out an expensive global technical field organization or relying upon regional power-player reps is either not an option for many and not scalable for all.

In summary, we need a new model that meets the following objectives:

1. Enables busy engineers to experiment with new technologies at their work-stations without any hassle.
2. Is globally ubiquitous, ready to go when the engineer is - regardless of location or time-zone.
3. Is scalable and economical.  The new model must operate independently of human resources.  Crucially, it must break the dependency upon the availability and location of Applications Engineers for as much of the process as possible.

This is where Xuropa comes in - as a platform to connect engineers with products globally, 24/7.

Xuropa Online Labs

1. Enable an engineer to use an actual product with no downloads, installations or configuration.
2. Provide access to software tools securely via any web browser, and so by definition the product becomes ubiquitous.
3. Enable remote global training, demonstration and pre-evaluation of technologies.

By making technology available via a Xuropa Online Lab engineers are able to access products in a cost effective manner.  Resources are leveraged globally and focused on those design teams that require a “high-touch” process.

Having said that, the web is not a cure-all.  We still need to have solid business processes to accommodate the new tools.  Also, there still needs to be an on-site evaluation - however when it does occur, the engineer will be better prepared for a smoother and quicker evaluation process.

There was one point in this part of the discussion where we may have a different perspective - how much engineers use the web.  Gary wondered if engineers are not too busy even to use the web.  From what we’ve seen on sites such as LinkedIn (who have over 70,000 semiconductor related members at last count), Design and Reuse and other news sites, engineers are using the web for research, they may be more focused in their activity and not just browsing though.

In part 2: The split between ESL and RTL responsibilities.

Posted under industry