( SNUG 04 Item 2 ) ----------------------------------------------- [08/11/04]
Subject: Customers Rate The Best & The Worst Synopsys/Avanti Tools
READING THE TEA LEAVES: The best way to find out what's hot and what's not
is to directly ask the users. Because 3 years ago, back in SNUG'01, 321
answered the 2001 survey, I proportionally scale every year's responses to
321 responses here. Out of the 788 users attending this year's SNUG'04,
360 answered this best & worst Synopsys tools question, so I scaled their
answers by 321/360 to enable apples-to-apples year-to-year comparisions.
"Which Synopsys product(s) are you *most* satisfied with? (write in)"
Design Compiler '03 #########################S S################### 106
Design Compiler '04 #########################S S################### 96
PrimeTime '03 ####################################### 78
PrimeTime '04 ###################################### 76
PhysOpt '03 ################################# 66
PhysOpt '04 ######################## 48
VCS '03 ################### 38
VCS '04 ############## 28
Vera '03 ######## 15
Vera '04 ### 5
DFT Compiler '03 ### 5
DFT Compiler '04 # 2
TetraMAX '03 ######### 18
TetraMAX '04 ####### 14
Avanti Apollo '03 ### 7
Avanti Apollo '04 ## 4
Avanti Astro '03 ######## 16
Avanti Astro '04 ################# 34
Avanti Star-RCXT '03 ## 4
Avanti Star-RCXT '04 ######## 15
Avanti AstroRail '03 0
Avanti AstroRail '04 ## 4
Avanti Hercules '03 ## 4
Avanti Hercules '04 ## 4
NanoSim '03 . 1
NanoSim '04 # 2
PrimeTime-SI '03 0
PrimeTime-SI '04 ## 4
Power Compiler '03 0
Power Compiler '04 ## 4
PrimePower '03 0
PrimePower '04 # 2
DC-FPGA '03 0
DC-FPGA '04 ## 4
Avanti HSPICE '03 0
Avanti HSPICE '04 ## 4
Magellan '03 0
Magellan '04 # 2
VirSim '03 0
VirSim '04 . 1
LEDA '03 0
LEDA '04 . 1
abraCAD '03 0
abraCAD '04 . 1
Avanti Proteus '03 0
Avanti Proteus '04 . 1
Formality '03 . 1
Formality '04 . 1
Avanti Jupiter-XT '03 ## 4
Avanti Jupiter-XT '04 0
Avanti Saber '03 ## 4
Avanti Saber '04 # 2
With the histogram "flattening" out over time shows the Synopsys customer
base is getting more mixed. That is, see how the top frontend tools are
each losing a little bit in the "best" category?
"Which Synopsys product(s) are you *most* satisfied with? (write in)"
Design Compiler '03 #########################S S################### 106
Design Compiler '04 #########################S S################### 96
PrimeTime '03 ####################################### 78
PrimeTime '04 ###################################### 76
PhysOpt '03 ################################# 66
PhysOpt '04 ######################## 48
VCS '03 ################### 38
VCS '04 ############## 28
That's because the backend users are now voting for backend tools for the
"best" category. The frontend losses are being replaced by backend gains.
"Which Synopsys product(s) are you *most* satisfied with? (write in)"
Avanti Astro '03 ######## 16
Avanti Astro '04 ################# 34
Avanti Star-RCXT '03 ## 4
Avanti Star-RCXT '04 ######## 15
Avanti AstroRail '03 0
Avanti AstroRail '04 ## 4
NanoSim '03 . 1
NanoSim '04 # 2
Power Compiler '03 0
Power Compiler '04 ## 4
PrimePower '03 0
PrimePower '04 # 2
DC-FPGA '03 0
DC-FPGA '04 ## 4
Avanti HSPICE '03 0
Avanti HSPICE '04 ## 4
abraCAD '03 0
abraCAD '04 . 1
Avanti Proteus '03 0
Avanti Proteus '04 . 1
Now on to the Synopsys "worst" tools vote as seen by the customers.
"Which Synopsys product(s) are you *least* satisfied with? (write in)"
Design Compiler '03 ######## 16
Design Compiler '04 ####### 13
PrimeTime '03 ### 6
PrimeTime '04 #### 7
PhysOpt '03 ####### 13
PhysOpt '04 ######## 15
VCS '03 ### 6
VCS '04 ##### 9
Vera '03 ## 4
Vera '04 . 1
DFT Compiler '03 0
DFT Compiler '04 ## 4
TetraMAX '03 ## 4
TetraMAX '04 ### 5
BSD Compiler '03 #### 8
BSD Compiler '04 # 2
Avanti Apollo '03 ### 7
Avanti Apollo '04 # 3
Avanti Astro '03 ######### 18
Avanti Astro '04 ######## 16
Avanti Astro CTS '03 ### 6
Avanti Astro CTS '03 . 1
Avanti Star-RCXT '03 ## 5
Avanti Star-RCXT '04 # 2
Avanti AstroRail '03 0
Avanti AstroRail '04 ## 4
Avanti Hercules '03 ## 4
Avanti Hercules '04 ##### 11
NanoSim '03 0
NanoSim '04 ## 3
PrimeTime-SI '03 . 1
PrimeTime-SI '04 ### 6
Power Compiler '03 ### 6
Power Compiler '04 . 1
PrimePower '03 ### 6
PrimePower '04 . 1
Formality '03 ########## 20
Formality '04 ###### 12
DC-FPGA '03 . 1
DC-FPGA '04 ## 4
FPGA Compiler II '03 #### 8
FPGA Compiler II '04 . 1
VirSim '03 . 1
VirSim '04 ## 3
LEDA '03 ### 6
LEDA '04 # 2
Module Compiler '03 ## 4
Module Compiler '04 # 2
DesignWare '03 ## 3
DesignWare '04 # 2
Floorplan Compiler '03 ####### 14
Floorplan Compiler '04 ### 6
Avanti Jupiter-XT '03 ## 4
Avanti Jupiter-XT '04 ##### 11
Avanti Cosmos '03 0
Avanti Cosmos '04 # 3
Avanti Sabre '03 0
Avanti Sabre '04 . 1
Avanti TCAD '03 0
Avanti TCAD '04 . 1
Ketchum '03 . 1
Magellan '04 . 1
Arcadia '03 0
Arcadia '04 . 1
For the 4th year in a row, overall there were much less "worst" tool user
votes than "best" tool user votes.
"Best" "Worst"
tool votes tool votes ratio
------------ ------------ -------
2001 306 144 2.13X
2002 344 131 2.63X
2003 371 172 2.16X
2004 351 155 2.26X
That is, for every "worst" Synopsys tool that a user cited in 2004, there
were 2.26 "best" Synopsys tools a user cited.
Now the tea leave reading comes on specific tools. This is where I ratio
the "best" votes with the "worst" votes to see if there's any news. For
example:
VCS '04 ############## 28 "best" tool votes
VCS '04 ##### 9 "worst" tool votes
gives VCS a 28 to 9 ratio -- which is roughly 3-to-1 -- VCS is doing well.
The "cash cow" tools (Design Compiler, PrimeTime, PhysOpt, VCS) all have
ratios ranging between 3-to-1 and 10-to-1. Avanti Astro has a 2-to-1.
I guess Synopsys, Inc. will retain it's No. 1 position in EDA revenues in
the forseeable future.
The "looking good" tools have more fans than detractors. TetraMAX ratios
at 3-to-1, Power Compiler ratios at 4-to-1, and the Avanti Star-RCXT
ratios at a whopping 7-to-1. Avanti HSPICE came in at 4-to-0. Not one
negative vote! They must be doing something right.
The "OK" tools, those that ratio roughly 1-to-1, are: Avanti AstroRail,
NanoSim, PrimeTime-SI, PrimePower, Avanti Sabre, Magellan, LEDA, VirSim,
and the newbie DC-FPGA.
The "needs improvement" tools have ratios of 1-to-something-greater-than-1.
That is, there's at least some small constituency of users liking it, but
most hate it. Avanti Hercules ratios at 1-to-3. In 2003, Formality
ratioed 1-to-20. This year it's 1-to-12.
The disasters, where the tool got 0 "best" votes plus some number of "worst"
votes were: Avanti Juptiter-XT at 0-to-11, Floorplan Compiler at 0-to-6,
Avanti Cosmos at 0-to-3, Module Compiler and BSD Compiler at 0-to-2, Avanti
TCAD and Arcadia at 0-to-1.
"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to
win or to lose."
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th U.S. President, (1908 - 1973)
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