( ESNUG 384 Item 13 ) ------------------------------------------- [12/06/01]
Subject: Merging Companies Are Going To Be An 18 Month Customer Nightmare
From: philip.jackson@conexant.com
Being that our current flow is Synopsys + Avanti, I believe it is a good
thing as hopefully, Synopsys will be able to provide a complete physical
design solution. I'm also a realist and expect it will take a couple of
years for them to integrate the two product lines. The only thing I find
worrisome is the potential liability that Synopsys may assume due to
Avanti's misdeeds?
- Philip Jackson
Conexant Systems Inc.
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My first reaction was:
"Oh my ... I wonder how many major releases we'll have to suffer through
until the 'merged' tools are actually usable again."
After having witnessed the horrible code that was Arcadia after they bought
EPIC and PrimeTime after they bought Motive from Quad Design. True, both
products are "OK" (and good in the sense of PT now) but the "code merge"
does absolutely nothing in terms of quality of the tools -- except make it
go down.
Keep me anon.
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From: "Ralph Zak" <zak@adaptivesilicon.com>
Hi John,
This acquisition has the potential to be either real good for chip designers
or real bad. It depends on how the acquisition is handled. I have been in
seven EDA merger/acquisitions over the years (that I can quickly recall) and
have seen them done well and poorly. (GE-Calma, Calma-CGIS, HHB-Simucad,
HHB-Cadnetix, Cadnetix-Daisy, Mentor-Silicon Compilers, Quickturn-PiE Design.)
Most of these mergers fail for two reasons. The first is that sales channels
get consolidated and Acct Managers and Applications Engineers who know one
area -- either selling to engineers -- get asked to sell and support tools in
areas they are unfamiliar with. Typically the new stuff to the acquirer gets
short-shrifted. In this case, the area in danger is the Avanti tools if the
Synopsys people have to sell them and the expertise in the Field goes away.
This is particularly true for high-end tools that require lots of support. A
spiral sets in. Sales drop, resources get cut, needed products never get out.
The second reason they fail is product lines often never get rationalized.
This must be done quickly. Within 90 days there must be a well communicated
roadmap. Otherwise, customers don't know what to buy and what will happen
to their tools. Everyone gets frozen. No one wants to commit because the
investments and learning curves are so steep. The EDA tool engineers don't
start drifting, and the customers don't know what to buy.
The best that can happen, which is expensive for the merged companies, is to
quickly decide on the best base of technology to replace both product lines.
Continue to support what is in the Field and to sell exisiting products to
all customers, but put a plan in place to introduce a new replacement product
to supersede all product lines for new sales within 12-15 months.
This parallel effort puts more pressure on the EDA development teams and
requires customers to be patient to hang onto what they have with just minor
improvements in the short term. If this cannot be done, everything will
languish. I've seen it done well, I've seen it done poorly. My two-cents.
- Ralph Zak
Adaptive Silicon, Inc.
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John,
Please keep me anonymous.
I think it's a good thing for Synopsys because it gets them a router to
complete their physical synthesis flow. I think it is a great thing for
Avanti because it instantly puts their tools in the hands of 90% of frontend
designers.
Synopsys' main task is to make floorplanning feel more like a synthesis tool
than a place & route tool in order to really successful. Unfortunately,
Synopsys' track record for buying and integrating EDA tools are not very
good.
On the moral side, our society seems to love rewarding criminals. Avanti
would not even be of significance had it not been for stolen code. For
Synopsys to even consider the purchase of Avanti speaks volumes about their
own integrity. But who cares? There's money to made, right?
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From: "Chandra Rao" <chandra@carmel-designs.com>
It will be nightmare Synopsys to manage it. They haven't done a good job
in the past aquisitions. Lots of overlap with products. Probably not
sure which horse to ride for a while.
- Chandra Rao
Carmel Designs LLC
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Bad news. Keep me anonymous.
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