|
Message
From: Damjan Lampret<damjanl@o...>
Date: Thu Jun 7 12:31:39 CEST 2007
Subject: [oc] The next step in OpenCores evolution
For your informationWhen I started OpenCores back in 1999, I didn't think it would become as
popular as it is. These days it has on average 80,000 different visitors
every month and 7.5M web hits. More than 10,000 companies have downloaded
from OpenCores. However it is time to take OpenCores to a new level, from
which both users and developers would benefit.
It is time for some major change. My intention is to sell the web site to an
industry leader in semiconductor or EDA industry. The idea is to find a
strategic partner, whose core business is not competing with OpenCores
activities. This strategic partner should be in the right business so that
the partnership with OpenCores would create a synergy effect from which both
the partner company and OpenCores would benefit.
This could mean a number of benefits for OpenCores developers. Partnership
with an ASIC vendor or a semiconductor foundry could enable developers to
prototype/silicon prove IP in silicon, while partnership with an EDA company
could provide access to the latest EDA semiconductor tools. Partnership with
an FPGA vendor could mean access to FPGA boards and tools.
Partner company should also invest certain amount of funds to make OpenCores
more professional organization, resulting in new business models for
developers and users. For example, that developers could choose a business
model for distribution of their IP and get financial compensation. Imagine
that developers would be able to put their IP onto silicon MPW every six
months - users would see higher value in such IP and be willing to pay for
such IP - developers getting financial compensation would in return be able
to put more time into development. You can see that this is a self
sustainable model. Of course this is just one example - there are many other
ideas but they all require a serious partner with motivation and financial
backing. An industry leader would be a perfect fit.
The benefits for the users would come from the fact that developers would
have access to new services and resources, which means positive consequences
for the quality of IP.
The next step is to get proposals from industry leaders and see what are
their interests. There is going to be a press release about this - however
if you happen to work for a company, such as an ASIC vendor, foundry, EDA
vendor or FPGA vendor, you are welcome to get in contact by emailing
partnership@o....
kind regards,
Damjan Lampret
Founder OpenCores.org
|
 |
Browse
