The IP Ecosystem is Evolutionary, not Revolutionary

Vishal Kapoor was one of the speakers at the Semico IMPACT conference last week.  The key take away is that we need a change in perspective in the IP industry, one that is system driven.  We used to view IP as a “This is what I do” type of product.  But we need that to change to a “What can I do for you?” type of product.

We are in a evolutionary industry.  Around 2000 – 2005, we entered the age of consumerization.  Integration became important because Time to Volume and Time to Market are the two factors that most determine success in the consumer arena.

And what made the age of consumerization possible are standards.  Like the USB standard.  It created a megastore type of environment for IP.  A designer can walk down the aisle and find convenient and dependable parts that can be configured and integrated.

Complexity, though, hit a point when people could no longer do it themselves.  They had to start looking for others who had products that could work with their own.  That point was around 100 blocks.

The evolution of the IP system means that we can no longer just buy single blocks and then wait to see if they all work together.

There are a few questions you should ask to determine quality:

1)      Does it work in the system?

2)      Does it conform to parameters?

3)      Is it configurable?

4)      Does it work in both low and high end products?

Now the industry needs a new way to purchase IP.  It should flow down from the designer.  The designer should be able to go down the supply chain, explain what they want, and then have the IP companies create based on their needs and the questions above, instead of requiring the designer to search out usable IP blocks for their product.

In this sense, integration would mean:

1)      Given in a form that works (IE – no verification IP needed to be done)

2)      Works in the end-system.

In the near future, we’re going to see memory as a huge disruption because it isn’t inherently intelligent.  The collaboration to make memory intelligent is a conscious effort to see a growing need, take action, and prepare ahead of time.  I.e., evolution.