( ESNUG 241 Item 7 ) ---------------------------------------------- [6/26/96]
From: [ Mr. Don't-Know-What-To-Do ]
Subject: We Like Avant! But Don't Know How To Handle The Legal Hassles
Hi John -- Please keep me anonymous on this, OK?
We're currently looking at setting up a proper n-layer routing
environment as we need to do something to convert cute Synopsys-synthesized
schematics to real abstract colourful artwork which layout guys can poke at.
We currently have Cadence's Cell Ensemble but this is proving too slow,
results are proving too large, etc. etc.
We've looked at a couple of products and even asked some vendors to try out
one of our 60K gate designs. Compass still haven't come back with
Pathfinder results. Cadence Cell3 results are fairly impressive (12%
smaller than our Cell Ensemble and the job took about 1/30th of the original
P&R time!) Avant! ArcCellBV and ArcCellXO were both even better than Cell3.
Moreover we were able to bash on the ArcCell keys ourselves & get results.
Avant! looked like clear winners in terms of ease of use, DSO (design-size
optiization), raw results, etc.
Then Cadence stepped up with their Silicon Ensemble and PBS (placement-based
synthesis) which looked set to end the days when a designer ping-ponged
between synthesis and layout. Avant! responded with Solar which sounds even
better than PBS.
Our problem is how can we do business with the Avant!/Cadence lawsuit
looming? Is there any way an Avant! customer can get burned if they lose?
- [ Mr. Don't-Know-What-To-Do ]
|
|
