EDACafé CEO interview
Sanjay : Tell us briefly about Defacto technologies
Chouki : Defacto Technologies, we are in EDA business since more than 17 years. We are specialized in SoC integration solutions that we are providing for semicondutors companies. and we are proud to have theses solutions that are now mature and that are used by most of the top 15 semi-conductor companies in the world
Sanjay : Ok and you recently announce STAR 8.0, tell us about that ?
Chouki : Yes exactly, absolutely. This is the major release that we are announcing since it's bringing complete now features in this SoC integration world. In some way in this new release, all the customers will find complete solutions to handle different views : RTL, IPXACT, SDC, UPF, all together in one solution through different APIs. Which is a kind of unique in the market so far.
Sanjay : So tell us a little bit more about how this whole thing works
Chouki : Yes so in summary we help starting the SoC integration process. For example if starting the project from scratch we can help generating all this kind of related code from scratch. It can be the RTL, it can be the other views. An other way of using Defacto is to start from existing project. I have previous projects I wanna reuse different parts, different views from this project and build my new SoC before synthesis Sanjay. Before synthesis is important because our solution, the main added value is before logic synthesis. So reusing existing projects and generating this new SOC version before synthesis, this is what our solutions are about.
Sanjay : Ok, so you can, people can have IPs, RTL, lots of C language staff
Chouki : Yes, different views, yes different views, kind of multi views, altogether. Some of them are RTL, some of them gate level, some of them are black box because team not ready. And they wanna build this all together these IP, the connectivity and generate the first version to start the work. So we enable that.
Sanjay : Ok and you primarily work with this initial phase or do you work throughout the process as well ?
Chouki : We work through the all process but we initiate, we enable the start and then when, you know, user's need for example because a new IP comes on the surface or they need to fine-tune the connectivity for improvement, they can use us again. And the good news Sanjay is, that even after synthesis if they want to continue the optimization, etc. they can also use Defacto.
So we help working before synthesis but also after synthesis if needed, ok ?
Sanjay : Ok yeah. And are you going in the testability area as well ?
Chouki : Absolutely. The testability is still a key added value of Defacto. We started with testability and it's still for the checking, for the enhancement, for the quality of DFT still a part of our solution.
Sanjay: Now What make your solution unique and differentiated ? You've got the big guys Mentor, Synopsys, shopping behind you and they say we have complete solutions. Now what makes your complete solution better than any of these big guys solutions
Chouki : Oh really what we think through Defacto we always think this is the begging. That We don't directly compete with the big guys. Because the big guys provide so many tools and solutions. In this world of this SoC Integration, I think we compete more with the internal platforms that the major semiconductor companies try to build internally because they don't find external EDA solution. So we try more to fit in this space of the automation for the SoC integration tool place this internal and difficult to maintain, kind of platform. This is how we fit. So yeah, we are not pretending, you know, replacing kind of other existing tools. We are more providing a more complete solution instead of for example using 3, 4, 5 separate tools, separate flows. They can find in Defacto one joined solution to speed up this integration process. So you know Sanjay it's always about this PPA kind of control or containment. Power Performance Area by lowering the cost of this engineering. This is where actually we're providing added value.
Sanjay : Ok so in your solution you will still be using "point" tools from other vendors like synthesis, simulation
Chouki : Absolutely, absolutely, yeah absolutely, completely. We fit in existing flows by providing this added value. In other words, by using us, they can for example have less engineering people involved because they will have more automation. They can for example start some design tasks ahead of time. Instead of waiting after synthesis at gate level, with Defacto, they can start at RTL. This is where we help actually in.
Sanjay : Ok what is the best way for people to find out more about Defacto technologies on the internet
Chouki : Very easy it's on our website, and by the way in a month or so we'll be having a very new version. But the website is www.defactotech.com or through our reps all over the world.
Sanjay : OK and you sell better clear through resellers ?
Chouki : Yes absolutely, we sell directly, we have our team in the US, in Europe but we are through resellers also especially in India.
