The Cloud a better match for FPGAs?

By _Plunify

April 1, 2011

A few days ago, Synopsys announced that they are preparing for their tools to make use of cloud computing. Which was a little strange considering comments to the contrary from both Cadence and Synopsys just a couple of months earlier.

"Synopsys Chairman and CEO Aart de Geus told an audience at the company's SNUG San Jose users' group event here Monday that using a "surge" in computing resources would allow designers to run a number of verification simulations in days or weeks that may have taken many months otherwise."

Finally! One of the "big guys" has spoken!

Simply put, it's a gift for us.

To most, the contents of the above article are far more persuasive than 2 guys in a startup trying to convince designers, partners and investors that Cloud Computing represents a huge  opportunity for EDA.

Managed properly, the Cloud promises remarkable productivity gains.

The Cloud is actually not that scary once one understands it.

Mr. de Geus does not seem to be sure of the business model for now; perhaps he is concerned how an SaaS solution which charges by per hour is going to cannibalize their per license software revenues.  This may be a hurdle for big companies like Synopsys and Cadence.

FPGA companies in comparison do not have this problem. Their revenue is primarily driven by chip sales. Hence Cloud Computing is a better fit for FPGAs.