> Other than trying to slightly beef up sales, I can't exactly figure out
> why Cadence is paying big bucks to steal the audience off the DAC floor.
> The big boys like Synopsys/Mentor/Magma have 1,000 man walking, talking
> armies of FAEs and salesdroids who visit the users daily -- so they're
> immune to such slick Cadence sales tactics.  This distraction strategy
> only denies the small guys like Tharas, ProDesign, EVE, Aptix, Aldec,
> Hardi, Carbon Design, and Forte easy access to the DAC customers.  Huh?
>
> Is Cadence that threatened by the small EDA companies now?
>
>     - from http://www.deepchip.com/wiretap/060615.html


From: John Murphy <jmm=user domain=athenadesign hot calm>

Hi John,

When I read your Wiretap article about Cadence setting up to poach the DAC
floor show attendees, I felt compelled to give my 2 cents.  As I'm the CEO
of Athena Design, an EDA start-up whose tools COMPLEMENTS the Cadence flow;
it struck me that Cadence is actually poaching market value from themselves!

Let's face it: Cadence is an 800 lb. market gorilla in EDA.  A gorilla has
power and influence over their market, which means they must maintain their
offering to maintain the gorilla status.  This Cadence strategy of luring
DAC attendees away to their private venue runs counter to winning the hearts
and minds of their customers.  I agree with your assertion, John, that this
will be a bigger inconvenience to the Cadence users than a benefit.  I don't
care how nice the hotel is.  This is not the care and feeding their gorilla
status requires.  There is an EDA ecosystem the Cadence gorilla depends on
for survival.  Like it or not, they need to support other vendors that add
value to their offering in a way that the customer gets a solution.

Don't just take my word for it.  Turn to the landmark book by Geoffrey Moore,
"Crossing the Chasm".  In the Chasm Companion, chapter 6, the section titled
"PRIMATE PECKING ORDERS", Paul Wiefels talks about the advantages enjoyed by
the gorilla and the recommended behavior for the gorilla:

  "The gorilla encourages and facilitates other vendors in the chain to
   integrate their products with the gorilla's product in order to
   forge a complete solution -- a whole product -- for the target market."

Cadence has enjoyed successes by following this strategy.  For example,
Virtuoso's underlying framework facilitated the integration of utilities and
value-added applications that fueled its growth and stickiness.  Many other
companies built decent businesses by integrating to Virtuoso, like Meta
Software, Celestry, CCT, and Neolinear.  Even Mentor's early success with
Calibre depended on a connection to Virtuoso.  As a result, Virtuoso has
been at the top of its market niche for more than a decade now.  The energy
that *other* companies put into integrating to Virtuoso became energy that
propelled and sustained Virtuoso's market dominance.

Another good example was Verilog-XL.  In fact, I would argue that this is the
best example for Cadence to reflect on.  In the mid 90s, after achieving
market dominance, Verilog-XL began to lose market share because Cadence did
not facilitate the third party integration necessary to sustain the gorilla
status.  VHDL gained strength by being an open standard.  Cadence responded
by opening the Verilog standard.  As a result, IEEE 1364 came into existence
and the design language war cries subsided.  It worked wonders for Cadence,
too.  Verilog-XL, followed by NC-Verilog in the late 90s, regained the share
that had been lost because the Verilog ecosystem blossomed to resuscitate the
gorilla.  I personally saw it happen from inside Cadence.

All of the customers I talk to say they go to DAC to see what the start-ups
are doing.  I trust the customers to seek out companies like Athena that
offer powerful technologies that add value to the Cadence tools.  For its
own enlightened self interests, Cadence should nuture, not stifle, the EDA
ecosystem of the small start-ups for around its tools.

   - John Murphy, CEO
     Athena Design Systems                       Santa Clara, CA


  Editor's Note: Prior to joining Athena, Murph spent 12 years at Cadence;
  his last 2 years were as Chief of Staff to Ray Bingham, then the CEO of
  Cadence -- which is why I ask Murph for coffee when I see him.  - John