FPGAs at DAC
Seen but not Heard

Despite some popular speculation, "DAC" does not stand for " Declining ASIC Commiseration." The Design Automation Conference is a robust and lively gathering of companies, customers and comrades sharing a common interest in the progressive automation of the electronic design process. As we've discussed the past couple of weeks, however, the historical focus of DAC has been on the custom and semi-custom digital IC design process. Sure, there have always been other disciplines and interests represented, but the money, the momentum, and the fear have always been centered around the completion of complex IC designs and the avoidance of career-limiting re-spins in the semiconductor design cycle.

FPGA design is certainly not excluded from DAC. There are special sessions to discuss FPGA design tools - and even FPGA company logos wandering around the show floor on polo shirts, but DAC has never attracted the mainstream FPGA designer, and consequently DAC has never become a venue of choice for those discussing and deploying tool technology for FPGA design. [more]