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Solving problems together has
always been the case to some
extent. When I was one of
Cadence's co-CTOs, I used to
end up in arguments with the VP
Engineering of one of our big
customers. He would complain that
our software was buggy for leading
edge nodes. I would tell him to use
an old version, but we both knew
that was impossible; the capabilities
were not available in the old
version. Then we would have some
test cases in the new node before
we released the software, and we'd
test it better. But this was also a
non-starter since the test cases
can't be produced until the software
is - if not up and running - at least
up and staggering. So actually the
situation was the same back then,
but less well acknowledged.
The startup approach no longer
works. This is partially due to
the investment climate, but also
because the problems to be solved
(such as coloring vias) require
you to have a full flow already.
There is no niche for the "via
coloring company," no matter how
compelling the technology. It has
to work in layout, place and route,
physical verification and so on, so
you have to have it all already.
technology, the salesforce would
not sell it and it would fail. You
can't get a point tool started with
the farmer approach.
There are only a couple of products
I can think of back in that era
that were developed by big EDA
companies (once they were out
of their own startup phase) that
became successful; these were
Calibre and PrimeTime (and even
that second one is dubious since
the #1 product in the space, Motive,
was acquired and shut down,
leaving a vacuum to move into).
Today
I think the situation today is actually
a bit different. Each new process
generation brings new challenges
(FinFET, double patterning etc)
and so any leading edge customer
has no option but to adopt the
new version. Everyone - Cadence
and the customer - knows there
will be issues. Everyone knows we
will all have to work together to
solve them. There are still one or
two startups in little niches, but
they are the exception and far less
numerous than twenty years ago
when DAC would not just fill part of
the south hall at Moscone, but all of
it. And the North Hall, And use the
corridors in between as overflow
space for still more companies.
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