( ESNUG 370 Item 1 ) -------------------------------------------- [05/17/01]

Subject: ( ESNUG 352 #1 ) Ultima (Celestry) "ClockWise" Is Very Unstable
> I recently taped out a design on which I inserted clock trees using the
> Ultima ClockWise tool and really liked it.  In the past I have used
> intentional skew in special situations to help improve timing, but it
> was difficult time consuming hand work.
>
> I have always thought that having an automated way of using skew to
> improve timing would be great, but it seemed like a difficult problem.
> In the past I have seen a few academic papers on the subject, but until
> recently I have never heard of a commercial tool.  Ultima has pulled off
> a very nice implementation of a "useful" skew tool.
>
>     - Jon Stahl, Principal Engineer
>       Avici Systems                             N. Billerica, MA


From: Himanshu Bhatnagar <himanshu.bhatnagar@conexant.com>

Hi, John,

Through ESNUG 352, I heard of Ultima Tech's Clockwise tool.  I evaluated it
about 8-9 months ago.  Clockwise is a piece of junk.  It's a clever idea,
but the interfaces to other tools are extremely unstable.  While passing
data back-and-forth from Ultima to Avant, I ran into several issues.  The
Ultima support staff provided 2-3 patches within 2 weeks of our eval to fix
these problems.  I just don't know how they can sell this tool.  Maybe now
they've improved it.

    - Himanshu Bhatnagar
      Conexant