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 …

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.?

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?

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

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

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

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)

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?

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

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

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!

Building IP Vendor Trust

by CAST, Inc. on Mar 24, 2010

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Building IP Vendor Trust — Presentation Transcript