Internet is the Answer

Electronic News, Nov 13, 2000 by Steve Smith

New ways bring new concerns, however, and an Internet-based design environment is no exception. Security is one of the main issues for anyone who designs over the Internet, as users must trust it with valuable, private information. Technology exists that can address these concerns and ensure data integrity and security through a system of multiple firewalls, physical access security, customer-dedicated hardware configurations, data encryption techniques and strong user-authentication techniques.

Additional concerns might be about band width, performance of the infrastructure and the availability of the necessary EDA tools, compute resources and support necessary to ensure seamless operation. Though all of these concerns can be addressed, a company looking into using an Internet design environment should scrutinize the hosting vendor's resources and commitment to providing state-of-the-art design services.

Enthusiasts for the new paradigm believe that the Internet-empowered engineer will be able to invoke a tailor-made design environment. It will have the necessary compute power, software licenses, IT management and support-all accessible via a standard Internet browser. This designer will be free to realize ideas, not worry about CPUs, licenses, cables and resources. This designer will be networked to an engineering environment from an office, a hotel room, an airplane or a backyard. This designer will forge the future of electronics on the Internet, on Internet time and at Internet speed.

Steve Smith is the marketing director for Internet-enabled design at Synopsys Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif.