As we see it, pc-board design is becoming the bottleneck again. But Innoveda's Almeida noted that the pc-board design flow has been pretty much unchanged since the days of hand taping. Hartley also commented that the biggest weakness with signal-integrity tools is the availability of models, and he asked what vendors are doing to verify IBIS models against Spice models. Metcalfe responded that EDA vendors don't get special access to Spice models from semiconductor vendors. After only one or two hands shot up, Hartley stepped forward with an explanation.
People change when there's pain.
There's no pain with Gerber right now. But another audience member commented that he uses Valor products for manufacturing checks, and doesn't want to have to go through a translation to do so. He also commented that a lack of interfaces between IC and pc-board design tools makes it difficult to create schematic symbols. It's a critical issue. When vendors were asked to identify the biggest weaknesses in their current product offerings, several gave honest and direct responses.