Editorial

A Farewell to Ampersands

Just one market prediction: electronic systems will keep getting more complex and more highly integrated.

By Lindsey Vereen

Last month I mentioned that we are making a few alterations in the magazine. As a dynamic obvserver of a dynamic marketplace, we can't let the weeds grow beneath our Nikes. Let me assure you, however, that we haven't bought the Vatican. However, there has been a flurry of activity here at the offices of what we used to call ASIC & EDA.

First of all, we're growing. As we enter our fourth year of publication, circulation has risen 10 percent to 55,000 qualified readers (qualification consists of your filling out the subscription card, sending it back to us to be scrutinized by our exacting circulation department, and then actually receiving your subscription). One reason we are growing is because the design methodology we cover is becoming dominant. More people are designing high-end electronics systems this way.

The second change is probably obvious to you if you started reading from the front of the magazine. After considerable reflection, we have decided to take on a new name. Henceforth we will answer to Integrated System Design . Why are we committing this heresy? Weren't two acronyms and an ampersand good enough for us?

The name change reflects a long search for a better way to describe what we cover. It reflects changes in design methodology that began 15 years ago and are coming to fruition today. Electronic systems are much more highly integrated than they were at the beginning of the 1980s. Semicustom devices once serving largely as aggregates of random logic have become black holes that are sucking in more and more of the intellectural content of electronic systems.

Let me assure you that we have not gone off in some bizarre direction. We will be covering the same topic area that we have been covering for the past three years: ASIC design methodology and semiconductor technologies. But what was once a niche methodology is becoming mainstream. More and more it's being used to design electronic systems, all the way from set-top boxes to avionics. As this design methodology evolves, we have to keep up with it, or we'll risk becoming as obsolete as eight-inch floppies, 10-megabyte Winchester drives, and TTL. Our name change reflects our attempt to stay abreast of this methodology and rapidly evolving semiconductor technologies.

So goodbye, ASIC & EDA . Hello, Integrated System Design .

Speaking of hellos, we have also brought aboard a new staff member. R.T. "Tets" Maniwa is our new technical editor. Tets earned his BSEE from Berkeley and has spent several years toiling in the semiconductor and systems arenas. Please join me in welcoming this new addition to our staff.

One last change. You are receiving this February issue at the time you would ordinarily receive your January issue. Don't ask me to explain why. We calculated it pretty carefully using our Pentium processor. *

Lindsey Vereen is editor-in-chief of Integrated System Design.

integrated system design  February 1995