It’s a song as old as time: if the tool takes too long to run, then run a less accurate version early on, and just use the accurate version at the end.

In other words, speed comes at the expense of accuracy.

So I have to say that I was a bit confused and suspicious when Atrenta claimed that their new Fast Lint didn’t sacrifice any accuracy. A conversation with their Mike Gianfagna cleared the picture up a bit.

You see, Atrenta says that they live and breathe by … Read More → "Fast and Accurate?"

I mentioned Nimbic’s cloud moves the other day, but that’s just about the delivery vehicle for their tools. With respect to the tools themselves, their message at DAC this year was that they can now handle the package analysis needs of 3D IC projects with sign-off-level quality.

Those of us that are used to thinking in terms of die analysis might be given pause: multiple dice at advanced technology nodes, full wave, no shortcuts… wow, immense, right? Think about the … Read More → "Full-Wave 3D IC Sign-Off"

You may recall that Vennsa’s OnPoint tool takes the results of verification and helps identify errors and possible causes. The tool’s early focus was on identifying suspect issues and letting you work from there.

Last year around DAC time, we noted that they took things a step further to suggest possible fixes (but you had to confirm whether they truly were fixes) and to do a … Read More → "Working Forward"

Last year, Nimbic put a lot of focus on their cloud implementation – to the point of changing the company name (erstwhile Physware). This year, part of their focus has been on implementing their tools on so-called “private clouds”: making use of the large server farms that some companies have. The drivers for this are the existence of these farms – why not use them? – as well as the usual security concerns that, while not universal, still dog the whole public cloud question.

But this now starts to sound a whole lot like an … Read More → "Privatizing the Cloud"