News & Analysis
Tell us What You Think
We want to know what you thought about this News. Let us know by adding a comment.
EVE preps defense against Mentor
Anne-Francoise Pele
1/9/2011 4:38 PM EST
-
Burgun said EVE is now playing the defense card. "Although the company is in good shape, profitable and with cash, we don't particularly want to experience what Quickturn and Mentor did in the 1990s."
He continued: "Several people in the EDA industry may remember very well that Mentor spent close to $60 million on legal battles against Quickturn from 1996 to 2002 (according to their filings with the Security Exchange Commission) – not to mention the cost of the hostile attempt to take over Quickturn in 1998 – when at that time Quickturn accused Mentor of abusive litigation tactics."
Concerning Mentor's recent patent allegations, Burgun said EVE reckons that, in legal terms, it is safe. The strategy is to avoid war on multiple fronts and to wear themselves out dealing with legal issues while the company's preoccupation today is to enlarge the business and continue to meet its customers' needs, he added.
Asked if he was trying, through his message, to make Mentor see sense, he replied affirmatively. "There is a past experience. Mentor has already played that game, and it lost a lot of money and its reputation was affected.
Burgun also called for the EDA community as a whole to bring Mentor back to reason. "Such behavior is not good for our industry. It's unreasonable."
At this point, the company's intention is to be defensive on the legal front, outlined Burgun. However, he continued: "We are not here to worsen the matter. We simply intend to explain the world that we have not done anything wrong and that Mentor should start thinking rationally again. They probably thought that we are not in great shape and that they can put pressure on us. But, this is wrong. We are doing very well in terms of growth and profitability. We simply have no intention to spend $10 million in lawyers' fees. We'd rather spend that money to come up with great products."
For the year 2010, EVE indeed reported a 50 percent revenue growth compared to 2009 and realized 10 percent profitability. It also managed to sign contracts with 15 customers for ZeBu-Server, its sixth-generation scalable emulation system capable of handling up to one-billion application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) gates.
In fiscal year 2010, EVE said it added multiple new customers in leading industries, including LG Electronics, Konica-Minolta, Fujitsu Microelectronics Solutions, Nokia-Siemens Networks among others. EVE expanded its installed base through several repeat orders from previous ZeBu users.
EVE has a strong presence in the United States and Asia. Japan represents one fourth of its business with 5 of the 6 biggest semiconductor companies in Japan.
Burgun said EVE is now playing the defense card. "Although the company is in good shape, profitable and with cash, we don't particularly want to experience what Quickturn and Mentor did in the 1990s."
He continued: "Several people in the EDA industry may remember very well that Mentor spent close to $60 million on legal battles against Quickturn from 1996 to 2002 (according to their filings with the Security Exchange Commission) – not to mention the cost of the hostile attempt to take over Quickturn in 1998 – when at that time Quickturn accused Mentor of abusive litigation tactics."
Concerning Mentor's recent patent allegations, Burgun said EVE reckons that, in legal terms, it is safe. The strategy is to avoid war on multiple fronts and to wear themselves out dealing with legal issues while the company's preoccupation today is to enlarge the business and continue to meet its customers' needs, he added.
Asked if he was trying, through his message, to make Mentor see sense, he replied affirmatively. "There is a past experience. Mentor has already played that game, and it lost a lot of money and its reputation was affected.
Burgun also called for the EDA community as a whole to bring Mentor back to reason. "Such behavior is not good for our industry. It's unreasonable."
At this point, the company's intention is to be defensive on the legal front, outlined Burgun. However, he continued: "We are not here to worsen the matter. We simply intend to explain the world that we have not done anything wrong and that Mentor should start thinking rationally again. They probably thought that we are not in great shape and that they can put pressure on us. But, this is wrong. We are doing very well in terms of growth and profitability. We simply have no intention to spend $10 million in lawyers' fees. We'd rather spend that money to come up with great products."
For the year 2010, EVE indeed reported a 50 percent revenue growth compared to 2009 and realized 10 percent profitability. It also managed to sign contracts with 15 customers for ZeBu-Server, its sixth-generation scalable emulation system capable of handling up to one-billion application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) gates.
In fiscal year 2010, EVE said it added multiple new customers in leading industries, including LG Electronics, Konica-Minolta, Fujitsu Microelectronics Solutions, Nokia-Siemens Networks among others. EVE expanded its installed base through several repeat orders from previous ZeBu users.
EVE has a strong presence in the United States and Asia. Japan represents one fourth of its business with 5 of the 6 biggest semiconductor companies in Japan.
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information