The road to DAC - Challenges with IP

So as we head into the final week before DAC the mad scramble for EDA vendors is underway. Some of them are starting to leak out new products and features.  iPad 2 giveaways are in full promotion mode.  Gary has released his list..

As I mentioned earlier I am going to DAC as well.  I'm going as a consultant and I'll be talking to as many people as I can about Semiconductor IP (#SemIP).  I'm looking for inputs on the challenges with integrating IP between groups and companies.  I'll be talking about the landscape of IC Design from two perspectives; the IP Provider and the IP Integrator.

The IP Provider (Provider) has the role of providing core analog IP "Functions".  This include the traditional analog semiconductor shops.  This discipline is analog focused and it's verification environment sits squarely with transistor level simulations (aka spectre/spice).

The role of IP Integrator (Integrator) has the job of integrating the IP from one or many IP Providers.  This is your large scale design integration houses.  This discipline is digital focused and it's verification environment is gate level functional simulations (aka verilog).

I see lots of challenges in this space.  From simple non-functional IP verification checking to data / change-management issues, challenges abound.  As an Integrator do you find yourself wishing that you didn't have to spend hours diff-ing IP versions to find the delta?  As a Provider what are you doing to verify the liberty model is in sync with the cadence database?  Did you update the pin for that PHY in all views & who checks that stuff anyway? Does this sound familiar??

If this sounds familiar - look me up.  We need to talk!!

Steven Klass
Email: s_k_l_a_s_s_@7_s_t_a_l_k_s_dot_com
Call or Text:  480.225.1112
Twitter: @rh0dium

..Go!

Quick Post..

And here we go.  Today I start out in my new role as a founder, owner and consultant.  Many people want to know what I'm working on.  In my email I simply stated that "now that I have my first contract.."  and left it at that.  To everyone who is watching I am not going to go into the full details of it but it will become very clear over the next few months here on this blog.  I can say it will deal with semiconductor IP and the challenges of handling massive amounts of data in order to effectively and efficiently design SSoCs (Smart or System SoCs).

Hang in there it's going to be a very fun and exciting ride!!

Ready.. ..Set.. ..Almost.. ..Almost...

In less than one week I'm walking away from a paying job for starting my own consulting company.  I've been planning this for awhile and as we get closer to "the day" I can't help but feel terribly restless and emotionally on pins and needles.

There is so much to do yet - I feel as though it's coming all so fast.  It's like a freight train in the night.  You hear it in the distance and before you know it I will have been doing this for awhile.  I have almost everything done and ready (I'm meeting with the financial planners later today) and I still need to get business cards ordered.  It looks like I'll be heading to DAC so I need to book my ticket and get that secured away.

So as I we begin this journey I find myself saying "Take a breath and relax; you can handle this".  Thank god for my family.

The next chapter.

I'm cleaning out my office in preparation for the next chapter of my life.  This process involves cleaning and reorganizing and putting new structure in place for an old structure.  It involves pruning those items which have fallen to the wayside and emphasizing those which will propel me forward.  Order from chaos.

Part of this involves reviewing my library of books and pruning the "must keep" list down.  As much as I would have loved to keep all my books I've ever read, I understand I do not have infinite space and frankly some of them stink.   My library is primarily technically focused and while I enjoy fiction (B. Thor, V. Flynn, D. Silva, etc) most of those have transitioned over to the kindle/ipad.

My library is a catalog of my life.  Pruning it is hard and getting harder.  Some books have very little tangible value and most of them have such a high level of emotional value that I simply can't part with them.   Working through them is a story of my life and it can tell a chronological story of my technical capabilities and capacity.

The first technical book I actually wanted and purchased was the TRS-80 Color Computer Programs book by Tom Rugg.  I think I was seven years old at the time and I learned software programming by working through the exercises the book presented. I still have this (not this one mine is significantly more tattered and dog-earred) and I reflected on this last night.

Over the years I continued my technical quest focusing in on Math and Science.  In School some of the most important books I've kept are the Math books which have always been prominent on my shelves.  From Algebra to Calculus, and ending up at Div, Grad, Curl and all of that I've enjoyed math and science.

In college I focused in on semiconductors and then applied that knowledge to my career doing what?  Design Automation.  What's that?  Software engineering with an emphasis on the Semiconductor IC design process.  In short creating the tools and providing the technologies necessary to enable IC design engineers to design IC's.  In short make magic!

I've been very successful architecting, designing, and leading international design automation teams for the past 15 years.  I never had to worry about much, income or job security.  And I believe it comes from a deep seeded passion to do the very best and work your ass off to meet your goals.  I've been very blessed to have some unbelievably talented people working for me and have had some incredible managers and leaders who believed in me and what we could do.  Often times this meant going out on a limb and trusting me. 

In the last year I've been working on some new projects which scale well outside of the domain of IC Design Engineering.  The book I've finished working through is Multidimensional Analytics and Metric Data Structures by Hanan Samet.  While it's a heavy topic and loaded with difficult concepts this is where people and companies need get to in order to achieve a highly efficient supply chain.  The topic deals with pulling various disassociated data sets and drawing meaning from it.  Fascinating topic which I am having a blast with putting to work the principles it outlines.

So what the point of this?  As I was cleaning and reflecting on the books which have helped shape who I am I came to realize this.  You can run from truth about who you are, or you can embrace it and succeed.  I am a technologist passionate about building scalable software solutions.  Data is my friend and software development is the tools I use to manipulate that data.  It's my passion and I look forward to the next chapter.  The time to start is now.