The designers gain by getting access to easier tool interfaces, which lets the design companies assemble a suite of point tools into an integrated methodology, probably stitched together through some massive Perl script. If the companies are able to use tools together without needing as many network support people and integration experts they will be more willing to buy more tools. A recent survey showed that only a quarter of the money budgeted for EDA went to new tool purchases. The majority of the funds are for maintenance, training, support, interfaces and internal CAD development. The EDA vendors gain from open formats by selling more tools and, more important, actually delivering their promise of greater engineering productivity.
Openness can help in other ways.
As we have seen in the Linux world, an open system can quickly become robust when many people work together to improve the operating environment By having open standards, the EDA firms won't have to recreate every interface for each new tool, permitting them to spend their time developing better algorithms and user interfaces. 2000 CMP Media Inc. All rights reserved.