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

y at least another 50 percent in 1991. We
expect the market to reach 80 million this
year. By 1996, the market should peak at
approximately 180 million.
Design Verification in tlie Top-Down Design Era
According to our most recent research, the
market cites simulation as the most important
weapon in its computer-aided engineering
(CAE) arsenal. On a scale of one to five, with
five being "most important" and one being
"least important," the market assigns an average
rating of 4.6 to simulation. In fact, the
results of our research show that 69 percent
of the market assigns it a 5. This bodes well
for the future opportunities in the simulation
arena, although rigorous price competition
among the myriad of suppliers will undoubtedly
limit revenue growtili.
Despite the market's desire for simulation,
the simulation market has remained relatively
flat over the past few years. The market
grew a negligible amoimt from 1989 to 1990
(see Figure 4). Preliminary estimates for 1991
CAD/CAM/CAE—Electronic Design Automation Applications
indicate that again the market experienced
little—if any—growth in 1991. Why?
We have tmcovered several factors contributing
to the market's sluggish performance. First, in
recent years, only Cadence's Verilog XL simulator
received strong market puU. Initially, the
product's appeal was driven by its exceptional
gate-level performance. Market pull increased
as leading edge designers began using the
Verilog HDL for top-down design. Competitors
in the simiilation market have been tmable to
match Verilog XL's success primarily because
the products lacked any or all of the
following:
• Fast gate-level execution speed
• Mixed-level simulation capabilities
• Strong modeling/design language
• Standard modeling/design language (such as
Verilog HDL or VHDL)
• ASIC Ubrary support
Figure 4
Historical and Projected Growth of Worldwide Software Simulation Market
Millions of Dollars
350-
^ Architectural Leval
• Non-HDL
n VHDL
S Verilog
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Notes Data does not include static timing analysis software.
Data does not include application-specific hardware (for example, hardware accelerators, hardware
modelers, logic emulators).
Source: Dataquest (July 1992) 6E001037 i
July 27,1992 ©1992 Dataquest Incorporated CCAM-EDA-DP-9202