Mentor Graphics’ tools. A revolution is coming about in thesphere of car design. It necessarily mustbe verified and maintained under envi-ronmental, safety and cost constraints.Only electronic design automation canhelp minimize the cost and boost effi-ciency. Much work needs to be done at theend equipment level. Indian car and truckmanufacturers need to move ahead andbe early adopters of design automationfor vehicle electronics. TATA, Mahindraand Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Mother-son etc are some names that are makingthe transition. Complexities in the processChange is always a difficult process es-pecially when it involves time con-straints. A design that had to be done infive years earlier, now has to be com-pleted within less than three years. The automotive industry is extremelyprocess and manufacturing driven. A toolflow to work has to be adapted to theirparticular flow and needs. There is alsono wriggle room for errors. The issuescan be best addressed by a company likeMentor Graphics, rather than a mechan-ical company. Semiconductor Startups and the IndianPerspectiveHaving the mobility to go on and startcompanies is very healthy and promotesinnovation. This trend is still in its in-fancy in India where stability in employ-ees is present but there are fewer startups.The perfect balance should be achievedso that organizations can depend on theirworkforce without hampering the streakfor innovation.An entrepreneur must keep trying. Tobe a part of a successful startup peoplemust get comfortable with the idea offailing at times. In the San Francisco Bayarea, it is an acceptable trend than an en-trepreneur would have been a part ofother failed companies. But failure islooked down upon anywhere else in theworld. The idea must also be scalable,which can attack an equipmentmarket where you havesome leverage. Theodds improve if youhave had some ex-perience workingfor establishedcompanies.Another issuepulling Indiansemiconductor start-ups down is the lack ofdomestic end equipmentbusinesses. A semiconductorstartup requires working closely withcustomers. Therefore a Multinationalsetup will work well in India where theteam is spread around the world to focuson international customers. Trends to lookout for in the EDA indus-try 2013India still is the primary destination foroutsourcing design responsibilites. Espe-cially for place and round verification upthrough complete end to end chip design.India has a lot of smaller companies thatcater to specialty design in chip marketand this trend will be on an upswing inthe future.Emulation will be the fastest grow-ing sector of EDA. System design, morehigh level design, ESL (Electronic Sys-tem Level Design), the growth and so-phistication of design for test is going togothrough asea change. Theexpansion of physical verifi-cation from simple rule based to complexelectrically programmable verificationwill also be witnessed. Low power de-sign, power integrity; signal integrity willcontinue to grow. Functional verification is anotherarea that is receiving increasing interest.It helps avoid major problems with thefinal design. In also enables organiza-tions to design an effective vehicle whichutilizes the electronics and reduces thecost while improving reliability, envi-ronmental regulatory compliance alongwith safety. New vistas for growthFor several years Mentor Graphics hasfocused on low power design at the chiplevel and also at the physical and logicallevel. People are increasingly adoptingthis method at the system level and thatwill be a major thrust in the emulationsegment. In the simulation segment, in-telligent test benches which are in theirinfancy will become much more widelyused in the coming years. Technology toimplement the Auto SAAR standard is arapid growth area for next year. The challenge always lies in doingmore for less and we aim to work to-wards anticipating future crisis. We de-velop solutions before they become arequirement. Doing all this with limitedresources is always a challenge but Men-tor Graphics is always up for a battle. (Based on a conversation with WaldhenC Rhines during his recent visit in India)sisiliconindia|8|January 2013In the simulationsegment, intelligent testbenches which are intheir infancy will become much morewidely used in thecoming years
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