Tality eyes new path for profitability

Tality eyes new path for profitability
By Chris Edwards, EE Times
January 5, 2001 (9:08 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010105S0015

LONDON — Design services and intellectual property company Tality Corp. is to consolidate and reduce the proportion of its activity in Silicon Valley as the company strives to hit profitability, at least on an operating level, by the end of 2001.

Jim Douglas, Tality's vice president of worldwide marketing, said the company, a spin-off from Cadence Design Systems announced in July 2000, expects to achieve "run-rate profitability at the end of 2001."

Douglas said Tality (San Jose, Calif.) does not intend to merge its two United Kingdom operations, the former Symbionics in Cambridge, England, and its "Project Alba" group in Livingston, Scotland, but instead will focus on U.S. locations, particularly in Silicon Valley.

"Forty-five percent of our resources are in the U.K., with 55 percent in North America. Of that, 20 percent is in the [Silicon] Valley," said Douglas. "Silicon Valley will become less o f a proportion over time. A lot of it is driven by access to resources and by cost."

Douglas added that focus on cost demands that the company aggregates designers where possible.

"Having an extremely distributed delivery model made no sense. It is very expensive to operate. We really need to scale back deployment of the business and build big locations. Our model historically went where there were engineers. We have 1,400 people at 14 sites. Some have 200, some have 50. Our nominal level is 100 people, where each team feels they have a center of competence."

Douglas said Tality would expand its involvement in India, particularly in digital chip design and software development. Tality already has a design center in Noida, but it plans to build a dedicated digital chip design center within several months.

"We are also evaluating some Eastern Bloc opportunities," said Douglas.

Some possible design center locations, such as China, have been ruled out by prevailing attitudes to intellectu al property protection.

Chris Edwards is editor of Electronics Times, EE Times' sister publication in the United Kingdom.