Selecting, Evaluating, and Acquiring EDA Products

Deciding upon the best EDA products for a project is both an art and a science. The decision-making process can be time consuming, expensive, and frustrating. It can also be rewarding from a professional and business perspective. One of the biggest decisions faced for a project, it is close in importance to the assignment of the design team. I will describe processes and techniques that have worked for me, and offer suggestions to help you make the best decision.

Before contacting EDA tool suppliers, spend time analyzing the EDA tool problems that gave you a headache during your last several designs. Depending upon your project, company size and type, you may need to determine where compatibility of tool sets and methodologies are important. The replacement tool will not only need to meet your immediate design needs, but improve your design process. It should also help you stay at a level of needed compatibility with design partners in or outside your organization or company. Before selecting a new EDA tool or system, check if an improvement in design methodology could overcome some of the historical problems.

In one of the articles of this series, I commented that the EDA business is such that many of the most innovative products come from start-up companies, not from the major suppliers. This fact can be used to winnow the product that you need. If your project does not require a break-through application, the major EDA companies have good choices. If a major EDA company has recently acquired a start-up, expect that the product technology acquired has been field proven and likely proven successful by early adopter design groups to the extent that such an acquisition made sense. If well-integrated tools are important to you, you will find that products from major EDA companies are generally better integrated than those from a one product start-ups. If you need EDA tool innovation, you will want to include start-up EDA companies in your search.

Evaluations require valuable resources, such as top design experts, and can be expensive. I am not professing that you should step out and license EDA products without evaluations, but there are ways to reduce the amount of effort spent on evaluations. Screening meetings with or without demonstrations are not that expensive for the buyer. They need not be longer than two hours. I have found that dialogue during the supplier presentations is an effective way of making the buying process more efficient. Demonstrations are useful but often too cookbook-like. The dialogue should include questions. Examples: Within the next six months, what important bug fixes do you have scheduled? What feature additions do you have planned for the next two releases?

Usually, the salesperson takes a few moments to recover and then hesitantly provides specifics. If accurate information is given, this is a pot of gold! Now you will know what other users have found necessary in the product, information about the product maturity, and the level of responsiveness the supplier provides. Often the supplier is armed with company names that have purchased the product. Ask for design engineer references to contact.

The annual Design Automation Conference (DAC) provides a fantastic overview of ıproductsı on the exhibition floor and ıproducts to be offeredı in the vendor suites. If you have a powerful purchasing department, take along a person from there to absorb the warm fuzzies coming from the party-like atmosphere in the evenings. I was quite surprised to meet a purchasing staff person with a major company in Europe at a recent DAC. I wasnıt selling an EDA product, but enjoyed the boat excursion and the opportunity to meet him.

If you would like to hear from users of EDA products in a conference environment and dialogue with them, consider attending the annual DesignCons. In some instances, the actual design may be demonstrated in the exhibit hall. This interaction can cut the preparation time down for your evaluations and help you to see how EDA products have performed for a given design. This is a strong indicator of how products work in an actual environment. Coupled with a demonstration, this can help you decide if you should spend your time on an evaluation. If other companies have purchased the product, contact the references provided by the supplier and ask your feature/function/ease of use/performance questions. Also ask whether the supplier provided satisfactory support of the product.

I have discussed some recommended steps to precede your EDA product selection. Concurrently, someone should be gathering information on whether the vendor product development team includes experienced developers with a good track record, the EDA company is well financed, and the products are priced reasonably. If any of these aspects are questionable, there may be available corrective action. If the company has a short-term financial challenge, your companyıs equity investment may help. An up-front payment for multiple license copies may be in order. If your purchase is to be large, a letter of intent may allow the EDA supplier to obtain market financing.

When you evaluate the product, often you may be missing a design case that closely represents your planned design. For example, a stress test of capacity or performance may not be readily achievable. There is no good solution to this. Consider a scaled reimbursement clause in the contract if you hit a barrier using the product shortly after purchase. Often this limitation can be overcome by the vendor, but unfortunately it may not be available when you need it. When interviewing the reference users, include questions on capacity and performance . Time-based licensing of the product, if offered, may reduce some of your risk. More than one engineer evaluating the product is always a good idea.

During evaluation, ask your legal representative to review and negotiate the license agreement. There has been some progress on standardization of licensing clauses in the EDA community. However, completing agreements and negotiating price and purchase terms are sometimes still subject to excruciating delays. Suggest to your legal or purchasing staff to replace terms that are unacceptable to them with: ıreasonable effort will be made by both partiesı. All parties need to realize how infrequently completed license agreements or contracts are read after receiving the appropriate signatures. At the same time, contracts are needed for good business arrangements and the infrequent litigation of EDA agreements. If a perceived default must go to litigation (probably not more than 1 in 100,000 times), it will take years to reach trial and a jury must have some satisfaction in contributing. Let them spend time deciding whether reasonable effort was made. The most important business takes place between the design engineer, vendor technical support and development engineers.

Copyright Summit Innovation Inc, September1999

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