( ESNUG 372 Item 7 ) -------------------------------------------- [05/31/01]
Subject: Users OK With Avanti News, But Silicon Perspectives Is Screwed
> Given the recent developements in the Avanti/Cadence lawsuit(s) this week,
> how many of you expect to be using Avanti tools a year from now? In your
> opinion, are we going to end up back in the days where Cadence owns the
> monopoly in backend tools (yet again)?
>
> - John Cooley
> the ESNUG guy
From: [ Intel Inside ]
John,
Please keep me anon as usual...
I don't think anyone has a monopoly in backend tools, but Avanti seems to be
the leader. Naturally, Cadence is going to attempt to financially destroy
them with civil litigation. I doubt this will impact Avanti AE support
because it would have to first "exist" to be effected... :)
All things considered, I'm sure I'll still be using Avanti P&R and
verification tools this time next year. Am I supposed to stop using them
because of their ethical digressions? Yeah, right. Also, since the state
of the economy is putting most company's budgets on a lean diet, it will be
difficult for Cadence to gain back any market share this year. Smaller,
younger (and cheaper) companies will probably be pretty busy at DAC.
Cadence has damaged their image much like Mentor did with their Falcon
Framework fiasco in the early 90's. Cadence's Integration Ensemble is at
least the third time where they have said, "We have the solution that merges
the logical and physical!" What the hell happened to their prior platforms?
They didn't work as advertised. How many times did the villagers listen to
the little boy who cried "Wolf"?
- [ Intel Inside ]
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From: Nir Sever <nir@zoran.co.il>
Hi John,
I'm not an Avanti user myself, but I wouldn't go and switch my physical
design tools because of the recent court plea. The investment is too big,
and I'm sure that when the day will come for Avanti to pay, the court will
consider the situation the Avant customers face and will make sure Avanti
and their customers can survive.
Other than that, Cadence isn't the only other player. Synopsys is becoming
more and more dominant in the physical design world, and so are Mentor and
other smaller players (Sequence, Simplex, Magma, Monterey and others).
- Nir Sever
Zoran Corp. Israel
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: Gary Smith <gary.smith@gartner.com>
Hi, John,
Avanti's biggest problem is not the damage award to Cadence, it's getting
the IP Implementation tools out on the market. If they don't introduce a
physical synthesizer soon they are likely to lose the backend business to
Magma, Monterey, Synopsys (once Route66 ships) and Cadence. The size of
the award to Cadence is still being decided but the tobacco cases of the
mid-90's and the more recent breast implant settlements have not bankrupted
the companies that were found guilty. The court system seems to working
towards keeping existing businesses out of bankruptcy.
- Gary Smith
DataQuest San Jose, CA
P.S. John, why is it that everyone that wants to see Avanti killed off are
all liberal Democrats that oppose the death penalty for people?
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: Phil Hoppes <phoppes@intersil.com>
Hi, John,
I have to believe EVERYBODY knew Avanti was guilty. Guilt wasn't the point.
Cadence back end tools sucked and Avanti was the only sane choice if you
wanted to get the job done without doubling your staff and dumping your
bank account in support fees.
Today, at least we see some promise with Monterey, Magma, and heaven forbid,
maybe even Synopsys if they can ever get their act together and get a
detailed router. There are more choices today than there were 5 years
ago. What will be interesting will be to see just where this all goes.
Fast Forward. Avanti loses to Cadence. Avanti files Chapter 11. Synopsys
buys Avanti router technology for 5 cents on the dollar. Synopsys finally
gets the router it's been looking to buy from VLSI a.k.a. Compass (a.k.a.
Avanti.)
- Phil Hoppes
Intersil
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: Paula Jones <paula@newiic.com>
Hi John,
Hope you've been following the San Jose Mercury News' coverage of the Avanti
verdict. See http://www0.mercurycenter.com/business/top/083028.htm
Yesterday's Dan Gilmore's column was great, too:
http://cgi.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/gillmor23.htm
It's titled, "Maybe we need a corporate death penalty". He thinks Avanti,
as a company, should be broken up.
- Paula Jones
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: [ Beach Bum ]
John, anon please.
An interesting sidebar to this whole Avanti fiasco is how it affects Silicon
Perspective. Gerry sold his buddies down the river for his get-out-of-jail-
free card. Meanwhile, the buddy that got the longest potential jail sentence
(6 years in prison) is Mitch Igusa, who is also the chief architect at
Silicon Perspective. What happens to that company's products if Mitch's
sitting in jail for 6 years?
- [ Beach Bum ]
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