Sometimes, on slow days, I'll go onto the Yahoo financial sites to laugh at what the Wall Street types actually believe EDA tools and chip design involve. It can be a hoot of a read. But amid the nonsense, you occasionally stumble across the frank commentary of a fellow chip designer telling it as it is. Everyone is anonymous, so you have to pick out the genuine designers by their stories. It was on Yahoo Cadence (CDN) that I found the best account of what it was like to be on a flexible access model (FAM) license model-the three-year scheme that led to Cadence CEO Jack Harding's ouster.
"This may be a bit cynical," wrote Anon., "but here's how they work: You decide on a base configuration (from today's price book) over a three-year period, then decide what remix rate (percent) and floating type (geography, continental or global) you want-or some variation of these three. I don't think you can get these from CDN anymore, but if you can, CDN will come up with a price that you'll be asked to make a binding commitment to pay over a three-year period (revenue recognition, you see).
"If this is a substantial part of your EDA budget over that period (usually is), you can kiss your salesman and the AEs goodbye for the next three years (minus three months . . . renewal sales cycle) and say hello to the hotline. Nice bunch of people, but, er, well, removed from the day-to-day application issues.
"Depending on what time of year you do it-e.g., if they really need your order (Hint: Look at the sales guy's fingernails)-you can get an incredible deal on the tools. You will, however, have to repeat the process if you want to add new tools (not in the original price book). If you want to actually use the tools, that will cost extra-sometimes much, much more.
"Around three to six months into the FAM, their competitors will start calling on you because they know that you're not able to use the tools; and there's no real barrier, because the original sales team (or the second-year team, for that matter) has no incentive whatsoever to call you, let alone drop by. Of course, by then you're running around telling anyone who will listen, 'It wasn't me, it wasn't me!'
"At around one to two years into the FAM, you're contorting yourself to kick your own ass for doing this in the first place. By then, you want the new stuff (which is not in the original price book), and the stuff you 'bought' earlier is only used 20 percent of the time (no one to help you get it going)-and you're still paying for it.
"So, when it comes time to renew this basket case, you demand something like a subscription where you can at least add new tools to the mix on an annual basis. Perhaps that's why CDN is aggressively moving to the subscription model these days."
John Cooley runs the e-mail Synopsys Users Group (ESNUG), is a contract ASIC Designer and loves hearing from engineers at jcooley@world.std.com or (508) 429-4357.
