( ESNUG 327 Item 2 ) ----------------------------------------------- [9/2/99]
Subject: ( ESNUG 326 #1 ) Customers Mixed About New Synopsys Pricing Models
> Your loyal readers urgently need your help. Synopsys is totally changing
> their licensing business model. They have been rolling out the new model
> to most customers over the last few weeks. They had already got feedback
> from their biggest customers over the summer. Of course, they first
> solicited feedback from Wall Street.
>
> They are moving away from perpetual licenses & toward term-based licenses.
> Of course, the prices of perpetual licenses are going up substantially and
> discounts are going down! Please solicit feedback from your readers ASAP
> about these new plans.
>
> They are leaving a window until August 31, 1999 for users to purchase
> licenses uder the old plan. I guess they are hoping for a large influx
> of orders before the window closes.
>
> I can't wait to read ESNUG feedback from this.
>
> - [ Rage Against The Machine ]
From: [ Not In A Panic Yet ]
John,
Please keep me anonymous as I have to negotiate pricing with Synopsys for
my company's field design center, and I do not want this to bite me later.
I can see why your readers are upset, especially the smaller companies.
But overall I think this pricing is advantageous for companies who do
larger, more complicated, DSM ASIC designs. Given the state of flux and
innovative startups pursuing new methodologies in the DSM arena, I feel
like it is impossible to tell exactly which tools will be appropriate
three years from now. So, if the Synopsys model allows me to save some
money now and, three years from now, make a shift in design methodology
when I (maybe) renew my Synopsys licenses, then as a customer I win.
Much as we engineers hate to accept that political reasons enter into
technical decisions, I suspect that many firms will now be more willing
to adopt a new set of design tools if license renewal becomes a routine
part of doing business. You won't have managers saying "Damn...I won't
get promoted if I say that three years ago I made a wrong and expensive
decision, so let's tell the designers they have to do 0.15u design with
0.35u tools..."
And Synopsys did do some things right, most notably adding a WAN option
to their new license models. This is great for ASIC vendors like us,
with design centers across the country with fluctuating license needs.
I am definitely a little bothered by the implied monopoly power, that an
organization feels they can casually raise their prices so significantly.
But paradoxically the fact that users will probably opt for 3-year licenses
means that there will be windows of opportunities for rival EDA vendors at
many of these accounts. If you lose to Synopsys now, but can pass their
technology in three years, you can attack their existing customer base.
It's always tough to unseat the incumbent, but at least the opening is
there without having to ask the customer to trash the existing tool set
(licenses are expiring anyway)! Synopsys might be unwittingly leaving the
door open for new and/or unknown rivals.
So I don't think the new pricing is a disaster. It is definitely an
inconvenience since it pushes some decisions earlier than we would have
liked, but it opens some opportunities down the road.
Please keep me anonymous, but if you need to know for your records that
I am legit and not part of Synopsys' super-secret Misinformation
Department... you can contact me at [ address deleted ] and I'll send
you my company info. Thanks!
- [ Not In A Panic Yet ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: [ Kenny From South Park ]
John,
Synopsys is going to a "new price structure", which is a thinly disguised
price increase. It may look like you can same money with their "5 year
deal" which locks you into their tools for 5 year, but read the fine print,
you don't. Some tools went up as much as 40% (like Designware-Foundation).
I'm being forced to drop some tools, some of which actually had some
promise, off of maintenance and just go with the core tools to stay within
my maintenance budget (which is fixed). Is there as much "snarling and
gnashing of teeth" about this out there as there is here?
- [ Kenny From South Park ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: [ Made In Taiwan ]
Hi, John. Please keep me and my company anonymous.
According to SYNOPSYS salesperson, SYNOPSYS' new pricing policy was pushed
out by some big brothers like Intel and Compaq.
I just want to say this pricing policy is pushing me away from SYNOPSYS no
matter how good her tools are. I hope SYNOPSYS can listen to this.
For Design Compiler users, I urge them to go for Cadence AMBIT BuildGates.
Most of our designs have more than 15% off in area with the same Timing
spec. And it runs faster. With BuildGates, you don't need to purchase
different features like HDL-Compiler, Design-Analyzer, HDL-Compiler, ....
You got them all in one package : BuildGates. Plus, you get Scan insertion
option in that package though with a little limitation.
For VCS users, throw it away. We have been using VCS and NC-Verilog for
months. NC-Verilog is much faster now(With 20% speed gain in general).
When they told you VCS is much faster than Verilog-XL. Yes it is true, but
it is unfair. Compare it with NC-Verilog not Verilog-XL !!! (Compiled mode
should compete with compiled mode.)
VCS can not catch up with NC-Verilog now. (Since merged with SYNOPSYS ???)
(And note that how many releases including patches since they merged ??)
For PrimeTime users, try Ambit, too. The Timing Engine is fast and
consistent with the logic synthesizer!!!
And for EPIC, try other circuit level simulators like Star-Time/Star-Sim
from Avanti.
You can name a few for other products. I just want to say to SYNOPSYS
this: 20% is not enough, why not 60% ??!!
- [ Made In Taiwan ]
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