Make it about the how (original) (raw)

2013, Fail-Safe Management

Ever have one of those days where you're working hard, nose to the grindstone, striving to make sure your latest project is on time and on target; and then suddenly out of nowhere, you overhear someone complimenting your efforts? It's not a comment that you solicited, but independently you find out that all of your hard work is recognized as the best among your peers and you're headed in the right direction. CMP Media LLC, the parent company of EETimes, just dropped quite a few kudos on the Xilinx doorstep. Most of you know that every year CMP conducts a PCB and IC electronic design tool industry survey to sample the engineering community's view on design tool providers. This year, at the 2004 Design Automation Conference, CMP announced the results of their first FPGA vendor survey. The ratings are striking. In 21 out of 22 categories measuring everything from best pre-sales support to brand and tool awareness, from most ethical company to customer loyalty, FPGA designers chose Xilinx as the top FPGA vendor. We received the highest rankings in best after-sales support, best documentation, current technology leader, technology leader in three years, clear vision of the future, best integration with other vendors' tools, well-managed company, and more. We were also able to hear the industry concerns. Respondents cited the accuracy and integrity of FPGA tools as their biggest design issue, followed closely by functional verification, timing closure, and the ability of those tools to easily handle complex designs. They also said that the majority of their design time was spent in place and route, synthesis, and HDL simulation, followed by timing analysis and floorplanning. One-third of the respondents also use formal verification, while almost half regularly use signal integrity and C language system-level tools. On behalf of all of the employees at Xilinx, thank you. We hear you loud and clear. Our primary goal is to put a programmable device in every piece of electronic equipment over the next 10 years. It's nice to hear that we're on the right path to get there.