Analogy suite has Windows-like features

Electronic News, August 28, 1995

BEAVERTON, ORE.--On the heels of last week's ballyhoo over Windows 95, Analogy is introducing SaberDesigner, a suite of tools for analog and mixed-signal design which incorporates a number of Windows-like features for the graphical user interface.

While running on Unix platforms, SaberDesigner has tool bars and icons, cut-and-paste capability, "drag and drop," pop-up forms, on-line help and on-line documentation, making it closer in appearance to the Microsoft Office product than the usual Unix-based electronic design software.

SaberDesigner, including Analogy's Saber simulator, is priced starting at $35,000 and will be available in October. It runs on Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems Unix workstations, including those running SunOS 4.1.4 and Solaris. It is integrated into Analog Artist from Cadence Design Systems, Powerview from Viewlogic Systems and the Falcon Framework from Mentor Graphics.

David Smith, Analogy's VP of advanced product development, said this product bridges Unix and Windows NT, but the company decided to base it on the more widely used Unix than the Microsoft operating system. Most of the electronic designers in the world are "going to be on Unix for a while," he said. "They have a significant investment in hardware; they won't be dropping their Unix machines."

At the same time, "Unix will become less of a force in electronic design automation, but not yet," Mr. Smith predicted. "Most of the (EDA) industry will have to support NT, but not as either/or; they will have to support both."

Windows NT doesn't present performance or memory challenges for EDA software, and the user interface is "much better" than Unix, the Analogy executive said. But Unix still has superior networking capabilities, and while design teams are reliant on networks, Unix will still predominate in EDA applications, he added. "Microsoft is not focused on networking," Mr. Smith said. "The Microsoft focus is: 'The machine is on your desk.'"

There are three tools which initially make up SaberDesigner: SaberSketch (available in March 1996), SaberGuide and SaberScope. SaberSketch lets users create and edit designs, while SaberGuide allows interactive simulation control and SaberScope allows for graphical data analysis and viewing.

"The combination of Saber, SaberGuide and SaberScope in one tool meets our idea of a comprehensive, well-integrated design environment," said Helmut Mather, IC CAD engineer with Siemens Semiconductor. "It contains all the functionality a designer needs to interpret his simulation. We especially like the simple and intuitive way it handles signals, and the wide variety of measurement functions it contains. We believe that SaberDesigner will be a very competitive tool for analog and mixed-signal design and simulation."

Mr. Smith said Analogy is looking beyond IC design with this product to "mixed-technology" and "mixed-discipline" design, where electronics is mixed with mechanical design and other methodologies.

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