Jeff Johnson

FPGA Design Consultant

8 August 2011 FPGA Design Consultant 1

Is your company’s key competence something other than FPGA design?

Do you lack the FPGA design work to employ someone full-time?

Is your design team is overloaded?

Are you having trouble finding expertise?

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Manage fluctuating workloads easily and without risk

Leverage specialized expertise

Start projects when the market is ready, not when your staff is ready

Take advantage of greater flexibility

8 August 2011 FPGA Design Consultant 3

Fluctuating workloads is a typical problem in design houses

Many companies struggle with maintaining their optimal team size (hiring and firing)

Outsourcing FPGA design can provide a buffer for periods when workloads peak

Outsourcing FPGA design can help you to achieve your deadlines

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The learning curve for FPGAs is steep and long It takes a long time to learn tools and devices and to

become proficient in making reliable designs

Keeping up to date with the evolution of FPGAs is a full-time job

Experienced FPGA developers are hard to find

Outsourcing FPGA design allows you to focus on your core competency and to leverage the knowledge of an expert

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Meet demand when the market is ready, not when your team is ready

FPGA design can be started even before the hardware design has started

Validate your concept sooner

After all, the largest benefit of FPGAs is faster development cycles

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Contain budgets through fixed prices You

couldn’t ask your employee to work for a fixed price!

It’s easier to drop a contractor than it is to let go of an employee

If you’re not happy with your provider, get a new one

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Hardware transfer might be necessary

Must trust an outsider with your IP

Management and communication can be more difficult than with an employee

Provider may juggle multiple projects and cannot be 100% deticated to you

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Do you have any custom hardware that your provider will need to perform the job? Do they

really need it? Can you live with code that has been verified by simulation or code that has been tested on a different hardware platform than your own?

Transfering hardware should be minimized because it creates delays and complicates planning Find a provider that is well equiped and give well

defined and contained jobs (modules) that can be verified without your complete hardware setup

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Must trust the provider with your company IP Make sure you place a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with all providers

Must trust your provider to bill you honestly Try to find providers through referals and make sure all contracts are well defined and projects contained

Unlike an employee, you will not always know what your provider is doing

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Communication must be done over the phone or by email

You need an in-house technical point of contact (TPOC) to manage the work

Your provider may have several clients and be unable to spend 100% of the time on your job

You might not get that change done right now as you can with an employee

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Outsourcing FPGA design can be a powerful leveraging strategy but is not suitable for all companies and projects

Know your needs intimately and find a provider that fits those needs

Take advantage of the modular nature of FPGA design

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For free assistance in understanding your FPGA needs, contact me at the link below:

FPGA Design Consultant

Or for FPGA design services:

FPGA Design Services

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