Building IP Vendor Trust

Can You Trust Your IP Vendor? How Not to Lose Sleep Over it Hal Barbour President, CAST, Inc.

IP Horror Stories We all hear about the “bad IP” news Unfulfilled promises Missed deadlines Poor quality code & materials Lousy support IP companies have come and gone Amphion inSilicon Dozens of smaller companies Constellations Seminar — slide

Trust is a Key Factor Even the best IP will present some technical challenges What matters most is if you can trust the provider to help you make it work External, commercial IP vendor In-house, IP & reuse group But how do you judge trustworthiness in advance? A matter of continual style, not a simple check-list Every organization has it’s own style, just like an individual’s personality There are some critical things to look for … Constellations Seminar — slide

First Impressions Matter Do they freely provide important information? Can you: Download datasheets without registering? See sample ASIC & FPGA implementation results (Fmax, resource numbers) without asking? Does their paranoia get in the way? Do they require an NDA for basic technical info? Do they demand an NDA for price info? Do they waste your time? Are you buried in marketing fluff? Will they quickly get you tech docs, design specs, etc.? Constellations Seminar — slide

Can They Run with You? Is the organization geared towards rapid, effective response? What is their process for responding to technical questions? Do their engineers seem as good as yours? How do they deal with time zone differences? Constellations Seminar — slide

Can They Deliver What They Promise? Do they they know how to productize IP for easy reuse? Do they have a track record of financial success? Are they profitable? Any short-term investor pressure? Is IP critical to their success (or design services)? Will they give you customer references? Don’t go by published “testimonials” Ask for — and talk with — engineers who have already used the IP you want Constellations Seminar — slide

Do They Understand System Integration? Do they help make sure the IP is best for your specific project? Most problems with a core are really problems understanding the application and designing the system correctly Constellations Seminar — slide

System Integration Example Challenge: Need means for customers to try complex compression technology Enable evaluation with own media, algorithm & core study, system dev head start Solution: H.264/JPEG 2000 Reference Design Platform Multiple CAST cores FPGA Prototyping Board SW GUI for Parameters & Control Constellations Seminar — slide

Licensing & Sales Issues Does the licensing meet your needs? Straight forward and adequately flexible Doesn’t bury you in legal minutia Is the pricing competitive? A good value for you A reasonable business model for them (you want the vendor to stay alive) Constellations Seminar — slide

Post-Sales Trust Do you seem to matter as much after the sale as before? Do they have highly-commissioned salespeople who are now on to their next deal? Is their Support Organization effective? Would you buy from them again? Constellations Seminar — slide

CAST Knows About Building Trust Successful IP provider, developer, and partner Sixteen years experience with IP Continually profitable, no debt Privately held, financially stable Unique market approach We only do digital IP, designed for reusability Independent of semiconductor technologies and EDA tools Constellations Seminar — slide

Effective Virtual Organization Global team of ~100 people: stable, long-term partnerships 24/7 culture with very fast response Always online with Email, IM & Skype Original developers available to help with support Experience with diverse customers and applications 1,000 sales to over 600 customers Pre-sales help in selecting the right IP Post-sales support during system integration CAST Knows About Building Trust Constellations Seminar — slide

Broad IP Product Line Constellations Seminar — slide

CAST IP Highlights 8051s — the fastest and smallest available versions, from the largest independent supplier H.264 — the highest-quality 1080p Baseline video encoder Image Compression — the most choices, JPEG to JPEG 2000 PCI Express — easy system integration with application interface USB — a complete family of solutions Memory Controllers — advanced IP for DDR, NAND Flash, SD, SDR mobile System IP Solutions — pre-integrated cores and software for a system design head start Constellations Seminar — slide

Conclusions In judging IP provider trust: The quality of the people and character of the company can ultimately be as important as the product Choose wisely, and get some sleep! Constellations Seminar — slide

Building IP Vendor Trust

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Building IP Vendor Trust