VSIA's new leader has 'revitalization plan'

VSIA's new leader has 'revitalization plan'
AUSTIN, Texas — The Virtual Socket Interface Alliance Inc. (VSIA, Los Gatos, Calif.) has a new president and a plan to revitalize the 120-member organization aimed at developing standards for design re-use.

Michael Kaskowitz, general manager of the intellectual property division of Mentor Graphics Corp., was elected president, replacing Timothy O'Donnell, the organization announced Monday (March 17).

Kaskowitz said while the VSIA's efforts in development working groups (DWGs) over the past few years have resulted in more than 20 standards for intellectual property re-use, "unfortunately we have not done a good job of solving the problems of adoption and of identifying and bringing to light the business issues of SoC and reuse."

The VSIA board of directors outlined a "revitalization plan" that will focus on those business issues. As a first step, a task force will define specific programs, including user groups to support adoption of standards, management-level seminars and panel discussions on re-use issues, surveys, and other informational programs on the Web and in person.

The VSIA's charter is to "dramatically improve the productivity of SoC development by specifying open standards and specifications that facilitate the integration of software and hardware 'virtual components' from multiple sources."

O'Donnell, who headed up the VSIA from June 2001, said Kaskowitz has developed an in-depth understanding of the technical and business issues surrounding design re-use. "His experience dovetails perfectly with our ongoing efforts to solve the tough problems that surround SoC development and the widening design gap," O'Donnell said.