CAD/CAM/CAE : electronic design automation, 1992 - Archive Server

Chapter 2
Executive Summary of the EDA Market m^^
Highlights
1991 EDA Vendor Turmoil Portends Shift in
Business Models
1991 was a year of contrasts. The EDA market seemed to be a
microcosmic reflection of the political revolution and warfare that
marked the world in 1991. Large, established companies seeking to
bring to market a global revolution in design automation stmnbled
as younger, quicker upstarts gained advantage through acquisition
and technology leadership. Mentor Graphics' delinquency in shif>ping
its 8.0 product exemplifies the peril of focusing on "wall-towall"
product development. Dataquest believes that this has made
it very difficult for EDA vendors to develop and sustain a competitive
edge on a complete portfolio of products. Rather, by selectively
taking the best technology from a wide variety of outside sources
and integrating such technology into ^ecUve EDA solutions, large
EDA vaidors may best remain successful.
Cadence's approach to market dominance has been through acquisition.
Originally created through the merger of ECAD and SDA,
Cadence continued acquisitions of key technologies, including
Tangent (Automatic Placement and Routing Software), Gateway
Design Automation (Verilog Simulation), and at the very end of
1991, the merger with Valid Logic Systems. This imperialistic program
has made the combined entity of Cadence and Valid the
No. 1 supplier of EDA software. Because the culinination of the
merger did not occiu' until December 31, 1991, Dataquest lists Valid
and Cadence as separate entities.
Frameworks and Standards Emerge to Level
Playing Field
At this time there are no industr5^wide standards under which EDA
application vendors may develop tools. However, the infrastructure
of EDA design, frameworks, and standards, had begun to coalesce
in 1991.
The two largest suppliers of EDA tools. Mentor Graphics and
Cadence, both shipped improved versions of their frameworks,
Falcon and Design Framework n, respectively These products have
now achieved a critical mass so that other, smaller developers of
EDA tools may utilize the framework's capabilities to integrate their
CCAM-EDA-MT-9201 ©1992 Dataquest Incorporated October 12,1992