The pros and cons of outsourcing your FPGA design

1. Jeff Johnson
FPGA Design Consultant
8 August 2011FPGA Design Consultant 1

2.  Is your company’s key competence
something other than FPGA design?
 Do you lack the FPGA design work to employ
someone full-time?
 Is your design team is overloaded?
 Are you having trouble finding expertise?
8 August 2011FPGA Design Consultant 2

3.  Manage fluctuating workloads easily and
without risk
 Leverage specialized expertise
 Start projects when the market is ready, not
when your staff is ready
 Take advantage of greater flexibility
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4.  Fluctuating workloads is a typical problem in
design houses
 Many companies struggle with maintaining
their optimal team size (hiring and firing)
 Outsourcing FPGA design can provide a
buffer for periods when workloads peak
 Outsourcing FPGA design can help you to
achieve your deadlines
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5.  The learning curve for FPGAs is steep and
long It takes a long time to learn tools and devices and to
become proficient in making reliable designs
 Keeping up to date with the evolution of
FPGAs is a full-time job
 Experienced FPGA developers are hard to find
 Outsourcing FPGA design allows you to focus
on your core competency and to leverage the
knowledge of an expert
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6.  Meet demand when the market is ready, not
when your team is ready
 FPGA design can be started even before the
hardware design has started
 Validate your concept sooner
 After all, the largest benefit of FPGAs is faster
development cycles
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7.  Contain budgets through fixed prices You
couldn’t ask your employee to work for a fixed price!
 It’s easier to drop a contractor than it is to let
go of an employee
 If you’re not happy with your provider, get a
new one
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8.  Hardware transfer might be necessary
 Must trust an outsider with your IP
 Management and communication can be
more difficult than with an employee
 Provider may juggle multiple projects and
cannot be 100% deticated to you
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9.  Do you have any custom hardware that your
provider will need to perform the job? Do they
really need it? Can you live with code that has been verified
by simulation or code that has been tested on a different
hardware platform than your own?
 Transfering hardware should be minimized
because it creates delays and complicates
planning Find a provider that is well equiped and give well
defined and contained jobs (modules) that can be verified
without your complete hardware setup
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10.  Must trust the provider with your company IP
Make sure you place a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with
all providers
 Must trust your provider to bill you honestly
Try to find providers through referals and make sure all
contracts are well defined and projects contained
 Unlike an employee, you will not always know
what your provider is doing
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11.  Communication must be done over the phone
or by email
 You need an in-house technical point of
contact (TPOC) to manage the work
 Your provider may have several clients and be
unable to spend 100% of the time on your job
 You might not get that change done right
now as you can with an employee
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12.  Outsourcing FPGA design can be a powerful
leveraging strategy but is not suitable for all
companies and projects
 Know your needs intimately and find a
provider that fits those needs
 Take advantage of the modular nature of
FPGA design
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13.  For free assistance in understanding your
FPGA needs, contact me at the link below:
FPGA Design Consultant
 Or for FPGA design services:
FPGA Design Services
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14. 8 August 2011FPGA Design Consultant 14