It's Not Too Early to Think About DAC 2009

Even though it's still a couple of months off, it's not too early to think about DAC 2009. This year's conference will be held July 26-31 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The technical program was announced this week, and after a couple of years away from DAC, I will return this year to participate in three activities.

The first is a Tuesday presentation in session 3U of the User Track titled Design Flow for Embedded System Device Driver Development and Verification

The second is a Wednesday lunch panel, part of a day long Virtual Platform Workshop

The third is a Thursday panel titled The Wild West: Conquest of Complex Hardware-Dependent Software Design

It should be an interesting mix of opinions about how to address the current challenges in embedded software.

It's great to see all of the activity at DAC related to Virtual Platform and Embedded Software.

As I was looking up the information on the events I will participate in one thing caught my eye, the use of the term "Front-End". Last year when Cadence announced new R&D leadership I found out I was suddenly a member of the Front End Group of Cadence. Now the DAC User Track lists four sessions with "Front-End" in the title. It looks like the Front End is a great place to be this year as we work on tools and techniques to raise the abstraction and productivity of System Design and Verification.

Mark your calendars now and I'll see you at the conference.

Jason Andrews