What attracted you to Oasys?

There is a lot to like about Oasys.  First, I am always interested in talented teams trying to solve very hard problems.  Paul and his leadership team have been there before – successfully – with Ambit Design Systems, and they have developed a radical new solution to an existing problem, not just an incremental improvement over current methods.  Second, I like the focus of the company being implementation.  It’s an area I know well, it’s a very large segment of the tools market, and the problem is constantly evolving.  I also appreciate that the team has put some of its focus on the FPGA market – an area I have experience in and in which I hope to contribute.  Third, it was attractive to work with Joe Costello who is also on the board.  I’ve had the privelege to work with and learn from some of the industry’s great leaders – Aart DeGeus, Chi-Foon Chan, Bernie Aronson, Ken McElvain, Prabu Goel, and so on.  Working with Joe has started off on a great note and I know will prove to be a terrific experience.  Overall, I thought this would be fun.

What makes Oasys different?

With its “place-first” methodology, Oasys has successfully cracked the code of using physical information early in the synthesis process.  They’ve also developed an incredibly efficient way of managing data – enabling much larger blocks of code to be synthesized in a fraction of the time of other tools.  This advantage will be increasingly important given escalating design sizes and continued deep submicron scaling.

How involved will you be?

Like any other board commitment, I plan to be involved as much as Paul (Oasys’ CEO) needs.  I’ll focus my time where I can contribute the most.  My C++ is rusty (actually, non-existent), but I can help in the sales and marketing area, in funding efforts, and perhaps in some of the strategic thinking as the company grows.

What’s your first order of business as a member of the board?

I expect to jump in on the sales side as I believe the relationships I’ve developed with customers can be an asset to Paul.  Of course, I’m prepared to support Paul wherever I can.

How do you think 2011 looks for EDA in general?

I think 2011 will be a good and an interesting year for EDA.  Stock prices are rising with companies recovering from the recession.  Stronger balance sheets and increasing equity values among the key players should enable continued consolidation – perhaps on a bigger scale than we’ve seen recently – which will improve the business model and provide a stronger foundation for investing in the demands of deep submicron semiconductor technology.  The technical challenges remain exciting, immense, and growing, and innovative companies like Oasys have a good chance at being in the core of the next generation design flow.