( ESNUG 456 Item 2 ) -------------------------------------------- [07/17/06]

From: Lou Covey <lou=user domain=vitalcompr spot calm>
Subject: Cooley asks What's the Backstory behind the Oasis vs. GDSII Push?

Hi, John,

I've got something for you to look at at DAC.  I introduced you to Tom
Grebinski of Oasis Tooling last year and he's gone a long way since then.
He got TSMC, Takumi, ASML, Brion and Aprio (among several others) to buy
his stuff and they are using it.  He's adding a bunch more this year.

This is what's going on in their DAC Booth 3051:

  1. Significant expansion of its OASIS verification and acceptance  
     technology.  The additions include encryption technology, VLSI
     layout database technology, and porting and acceleration algorithms
     for the new CELL Broadband in the OASIS C++ API stack.  Their
     capabilities are unique in the industry and provide access to
     processor technology not currently available to commercial EDA
     tools flows.

  2. gmTest, a new technology to verify the operational and computational
     correctness of EDA software.  The gmTest technology improves code
     verification coverage to find more bugs prior to release for design
     and mask operations using computational geometry and other similarly
     complex design operations.

  3. ipHasher, a design layout geometry hashing technology to remove
     proprietary layout information from layout files while maintaining
     detected software bugs that need to be shared with the software
     supplier.

The bottom line is this stuff makes it possible to work with process info
out of the foundries, without actually seeing them, and to share IP with
other companies, without the others actually seeing your IP.

Just put it on your DAC "must see" list.

    - Lou Covey
      VitalCom Public Relations, Inc.            Redwood City, CA


  Editor's Note: After I saw this letter from the PR guy for Oasis Tooling,
  I didn't know how to interpret it because I have no idea what the untold
  backstory for the "new" Oasis standard is.  For example, Cadence created
  the OpenAcess database to counter the Milkyway monopoly Synopsys got from
  the Avanti aquisition.  Start-ups wanting to be bought out by Cadence
  should build their tools on OpenAcess.  But what's the unspoken backstory
  of wanting Oasis to replace GDSII?  Who's pimping it?  Who's opposing it?
  What are the hidden motivations here?  Anyone?  (Feel free to be anon.)
  Is Oasis something a day-to-day chip designer should actually care about?
  I'm not questioning Oasis Tooling, Inc., but the Oasis standard.  - John