Thanks to a tip from an ESNUG reader, I checked out the exhibitor's list of
the upcoming DATE'09 conference in Nice, France and was surprized.  (For my
American readers, DATE stands for "Design, Automation, & Test in Europe";
it's sort of Europe's version of DAC.)

Long story short: Out of 163 exhibitors from last year, 138 have bailed on
the upcoming DATE'09 -- an 84% drop with only 25 returning.  That's no
Aldec, no Apache, no Bluespec, no CoWare, no Denali, no Forte, no Jasper,
no Mathworks, no Pulsic, no Pyxis.  Plus no Synopsys, no Cadence, no Mentor,
nor Magma either.  And while Mike Muller, the CTO of ARM, is giving one of
the DATE'09 keynotes; even his ARM Ltd. pulled from exhibiting this year.

Ouch.

        DATE'08 Exhibitors List   <== LAST YEAR'S LIST!!!!

    * - marks an exhibitor still showing at the DATE'09 in two weeks

        ACE Associated Compiler Experts
        ACE OpenCoSy
        Advantest Technology Solutions
        AerieLogic
        Agilent Technologies
        Aldec
        ALS Design
    * - Ansoft
        Apache Design Solutions
        Applied Wave Research
        ArchPro Design Automation
        ARM
        Arteris
    * - Atrenta
        Avery Design Systems
        Blaze DFM
        Bluespec
        BullDAST
        Cadence
        Carbon Design Systems
        CAST
        Certess
        ClioSoft
    * - CMP
    * - CoFluent Design
        Compaan Design
    * - Concept Engineering
        CoWare
        CST
        DAC
    * - DeFacto Technologies
        Denali Software
    * - Design & Reuse
    * - Dolphin Integration
        Doulos
        DSP Valley
    * - Easics
        ECSI
        EDA Tech Forum Journal
        EE Times Europe
        Elektronik i Norden
        Enovia MatrixOne
        Esterel Technologies
        Europractice
    * - EVE
        Fenix Design Automation
        Forte Design Systems
        FTL Systems
        Gaisler Research
        Gidel
        Handshake Solutions
        HARDI Electronics
        Hewlett Packard
    * - IMEC
    * - Infiniscale
        International Engineering Consortium
        Jasper Design Automation
        Jazz Semiconductor
        JEDA Technologies
        Lynguent
        Magillem Design Services
        Magma Design Automation
        McGraw-Hill
        Mentor Graphics
        Mephisto Design Automation
        Mimosys
        Morgan Kaufmann
    * - MOSIS
    * - MunEDA
    * - Nangate
        National Instruments
        NEC Corporation
        Novas Software
        OCP-IP
        Open iT
        Plurality
        Pro-Design Electronic
    * - Prolific
        Pulsic
        Pyxis Technology
    * - Q-Star Test
        Rambus
        Real Intent
        Sagantec
    * - SAME ARCSIS
        Sandwork Design
    * - Satin IP Technologies
        Siemens CES Design Services
        Sierra Design Automation
        Sigrity
        Silicon Image
        Silicon Navigator
        Sonics
        SPACE Codesign
    * - Springer
        Sundance Multiprocessor Technology
        Synopsys
        Synplicity
    * - Tanner EDA
    * - Target Compiler Technologies
        Team Cote D'Azur
        Teklatech
        Temento Systems
    * - The IET
        The Mathworks
        TIMA Labs
        TORIC
        TSSI
        Unique ICs
        University of Southampton
        VaST Systems Technology
    * - Verific Design Automation
    * - VeriSilicon
        YogiTech

"At DATE in Munich last year we did not get any unique visitors who did
not also visit us at the DAC in Anaheim three months later.  From our
experience at the last DATE in Nice in 2007, we only had three meaningful
visitors," said Prakash Narain, CEO of Real Intent, Inc.  "In 2007 we
were told that there were very few local EDA using compaines around Nice
and that DATE'07 conflicted with Europe's Easter Break."

"When we saw a few months ago how many companies were dropping out of
DATE, we were happy to join the bandwagon," added Prakash.  "This year
we're focused on shows that give us a better ROI, namely EDS Fair in
Japan, DVcon, ChipEx in Israel, and DAC in San Francisco."

         ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----   ----

"At DATE, we look for a few people with problems we can solve, not a huge
number of leads," said Paul de Dood, CEO of Prolific, Inc.  "We don't sell
an elaborate, billion-Euro tool flow; we just solve power problems and
standard cell libraries."

"We're represented in Europe by distributors," added Paul.  "This is one
of those rare times where we get to talk to our customers face to face."

         ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----   ----

The sad part about DATE contracting is that past attendees have told me it
has some good user technical content in it.

    - John Cooley
      DeepChip.com                               Holliston, MA