( ESNUG 280 Item 3 ) ------------------------------------------------ [2/12/98]
Subject: (ESNUG 276 #8 278 #6) Views On Off-The-Shelf Standard ASIC Libs
> Compass (now Avant!) are trying to decide if/how they will be in the cell
> library business. Avant! has a new division for design services called
> Galaxy. They really want to sell you design services not just libraries
> or compilers. Furthermore, they are not sure it is in their best interest
> to sell you any product if you are going to use a Cadence router. If you
> want to buy an Avant! router, then they will consider selling you libraries
> or compilers.
>
> We are currently evaluating cell libraries from Leda Systems. So far, we
> have been very impressed with their technical ability and their products do
> not appear to have the flaws we have found in the other vendors. Again, we
> are early in our evaluation process, but so far we are pleased. Leda does
> not have any memory compilers to offer, so we are still searching for that
> solution.
>
> - David Brantley
> Dallas Semiconductor Dallas, TX
From: [ No Name, Just An Ex-Compass Employee ]
John,
I used to work at Compass (I quit soon after the Avant acquisition,
naturally :-) and we'd run up against Aspec, Artisan, Cascade, SiArc,
Mentor,.. the usual suspects, but never Leda.
I guess Leda is a new player along with all the other startups out there.
Compass had great library technology, tried and tested from the days of
3.0um, but unfortunately no management focus.
- [ No Name, Just An Ex-Compass Employee ]
> We are a 3+ year customer of Cascade for our internal Fab. We have had
> battles with them over the past year with these libraries as they have
> "changed their business model". They have put in place new management
> which have taken a company which worked well with its customers & "broken"
> it. We are finding DRC problems, off-grid problems, verilog model versus
> actual silicon functionality problems, etc. Also, Cascade does not have
> any of the processes we have requested for Chartered "off the shelf".
> They believe they can "quickly turn" whatever the customer requests.
>
> We have talked to Artisan only about memory compilers. They too have
> apparently changed their business model. According to John Roar at
> Artisan, they now only sell memory compilers to Foundries with a "right
> to distribute" license. Artisan does not sell memory compilers directly
> to end-users.
>
> - David Brantley
> Dallas Semiconductor Dallas, TX
From: [ No Name, Just An Ex-Cascade Employee ]
John,
I read this post on E-SNUG, and have a couple of comments. First, as an
ex-Cascade employee, I want to apologize for our work: it wasn't up to
my standards, either. There are lots of reasons for that, but I've never
been a big guy for excuses, so I'll just apologize and let it go at that.
(I did get a nasty bit of pleasure from the comments about the new managers,
but that's not really relevant, either. Just proves I'm human. :-) )
The real reason I'm emailing you is that I have a couple of thoughts.
First, I interviewed last summer with a company called Virage Logic in
Milpitas, and was impressed with their RAM compiler technology. I believe
it to be state-of-the-art, and it would be worth your time to evaluate.
They are small, but growing rapidly (I think they are at 20 now) and
completely focussed on RAMs.
Second, the last time I checked, I was impressed with Artisan's standard
cell offering. I haven't followed what they are doing with their business
model, but the quality of their cells was quite high. I was also impressed
with Artisan's RAM technology, but believe Virage to be even better.
- [ No Name, Just An Ex-Cascade Employee ]
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