Pioneering the Future of Verification: A Spiral of Technological and Business Innovation

Abstract

Changing the way the world verifies semiconductors and systems takes far more than algorithmic or methodological breakthroughs. Over the past two decades, there have been four or five great verification breakthroughs, while many other promising technologies have been relegated to the dust bin. Bringing a nascent EDA technology to mainstream use and commercial success requires alternating technological and business innovations to accelerate adoption.

In this session, you’ll learn key concepts about bringing a disruptive technology to widespread adoption. Kathryn Kranen will share insights gained as a market pioneer of three technologies that have become the major pillars of today’s mainstream system-on-chip verification: hardware emulation, constrained-random simulation, and formal property verification. You will also hear some of her visions of what the future of design and verification may hold.

Speaker Bio

Kathryn Kranen is responsible for leading Jasper’s team in successfully bringing the company’s pioneering technology to the mainstream design verification market. She has more than 20 years EDA industry experience and a proven management track record. While serving as president and CEO of Verisity Design, Inc., US headquarters of Verisity Ltd., Kathryn and the team she built created an entirely new market in design verification. (Verisity later became a public company, and was the top-performing IPO of 2001.) Prior to Verisity, Kathryn was vice president of North American sales at Quickturn Systems. She started her career as a design engineer at Rockwell International, and later joined Daisy Systems, an early EDA company. Kathryn graduated Summa cum Laude from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. Kathryn is serving her fifth term on the EDA Consortium board of directors, and was elected its vice chairperson. In 2005, Kathryn was recipient of the prestigious Marie R. Pistilli Women in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Achievement Award. In 2009, EE Times listed Kathryn as one of the “Top 10 Women in Microelectronics”.