Commentary:

Electronics IP Industry – A November 2009 Update

---

by Dr. Russ Henke and Dr. Jack Horgan
Henke Associates

---

In their previous twenty-five (25) quarterly issues of the Electronics IP Industry Commentaries, the authors examined the recent financial histories and future outlooks of the remarkable phenomenon of Electronics Intellectual Property (IP) providers, a niche that has emerged in its own right to claim a substantial amount of revenue in the world of Electronics Design Automation.

We had arbitrarily selected eight (8) publicly-traded companies originally (then called the "Group-of-8" or "G8"), as representative of the then-current financial state of the Electronics IP industry. At the end of 2004, ARM completed its acquisition of Artisan Components, Inc., thereby reducing our "G8" to "G7". In August 2009 Mentor Graphics completed its acquisition of LogicVision, thereby reducing our “G7” to “G6”. Accordingly, in this November 2009 Commentary, we look at the financial performances of the "G6" Electronics IP vendors for the third quarter of 2009.

Group-of-6 ("G6"):

For the “G6” companies above, we assume that all of their revenues are Electronics IP sales and directly related IP services.

News Highlights:

On October 2, 2009 the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported that worldwide sales of semiconductors in August were $19.1 billion, an increase of 5% from July 2009 when sales were $18.2 billion. Sales declined 16.1% from August 2008, when sales were $22.7 billion. August 2009 sales were up sequentially in all geographic regions. Year-to-date sales through August 2009 are down 21.3% to $133.8 billion from $170.1 billion at this time last year. The rate of decline has slowed slightly from the first six months of 2009, during which sales declined by 25% year-on-year. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average of global semiconductor sales. See Table 1. Table 1.

SIA President George Scalise said, “Continuing recovery of consumer spending led the sixth-consecutive month of sequential growth in semiconductor sales. Various incentive programs for energy-efficient products, ranging from automobiles to home appliances, have bolstered demand for semiconductors, which deliver critical enabling technology for reducing energy consumption.”

iSuppli has forecast that global semiconductor revenue is set to contract by 16.5% in 2009. This follows a 5.4% decrease in 2008. However at the end of October 2009, iSuppli predicted that revenue is expected to rise by 10.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008. If achieved, the fourth quarter will mark the first quarter in 2009 that revenue has risen compared to the same period a year earlier. See Figure 1.

Dale Ford, senior vice president, market intelligence, for iSuppli, said, “The seeds of the current recovery were sown in the second quarter. During that period, manufacturers began to report positive book-to-bill ratios, indicating future revenue growth. This was followed by another sequential increase in revenue in the third quarter. Meanwhile, semiconductor inventories returned to more normal levels in the third quarter after chip suppliers shed stockpiles. They did this by slashing costs dramatically in order to reduce unsold inventory they’d been carrying since the beginning of 2009.”

On October 21, 2009, ARM announced at ARM TechCon 3, held in Santa Clara, CA, the launch of the ARM® Mali™ Developer Center - a suite of resources for graphics and embedded applications developers working with the Khronos OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0, OpenVG 1.0 and 1.1, as well as other APIs. Accessing these resources as members of the Mali ecosystem will enable developers targeting Mali graphics processing unit (GPU) platforms to bring best-in-class content to market.

On November 2, 2009 MIPS Technologies introduced a new core family providing the highest levels of system performance for extremely cost-sensitive embedded applications such as 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), home entertainment, personal entertainment and home networking. The new MIPS32 M14KTM and M14KcTM cores are the first MIPS32-compatible cores that also execute the new microMIPS instruction set architecture (ISA), achieving high performance of
1.5 DMIPS/MHz with an advanced level of code compression. The microMIPS ISA is said to maintain 98% of MIPS32 performance while reducing code size by 35%, translating to significant silicon cost savings.

On November 2, 2009 MoSys announced the availability of its PCI Express 2.0 PHY. MoSys' PHY complies with the PIPE 2.0 specification and provides the physical layer (PHY) interface that connects to industry standard PCI Express 2.0 controllers.

On October 21, 2009 Rambus Inc. announced it had achieved a new breakthrough level of power efficiency with its latest silicon test vehicle developed through its Mobile Memory Initiative (MMI). The latest silicon-validated results demonstrate that through the use of MMI innovations, a high-bandwidth mobile memory controller can achieve what is said to be a world-leading power efficiency of 2.2mW/Gbps. This is nearly a one third improvement over the initial MMI silicon and significantly better than the estimated 10mW/Gbps of an LPDDR2 400 memory controller.

On August 18, 2009 Virage Logic announced its intent to acquire publicly held ARC International plc, a provider of consumer IP to OEM and semiconductor companies globally. The proposed all-cash transaction values ARC at 16.25 pence per share, or an equity value of approximately £25.2 million ($41.0 million) on a fully-diluted basis. On September 15, 2009 Virage Logic announced that with 84.68% of the ARC shares already tendered into the offer, it will proceed to consummate the purchase of this ownership interest in ARC and will have ARC immediately apply to the UK Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange for the delisting of ARC's shares.

How did the Electronics IP G6 perform in the Third Quarter of 2009?

On the IP revenue front, Table 2 below reveals that the G6's combined Q3 revenue performance was $192 million, down almost 10% from the $213 million in the third quarter of 2008, but up 14% sequentially from the $168 million in the second quarter of 2009. All IP Providers suffered revenue declines measured in dollars year-over-year. MIPS endured the largest revenue decline at -23%. MoSys and Virage Logic reported percentage drops in the mid teens. The others had single digits declines. On a sequential quarterly basis all firms enjoyed revenue increases. MoSys was way out in front with a 70% increase. ARM and MIPS saw increases around 17%. Virage Logic was the only other IP Provider to exceed 10% growth.

Figure 2 below provides a bar graph of each vendor's revenue for Q3 2008, Q2 2009, and Q3 2009 in sequence.

ARM continues to dominate with 63% of total revenue with Rambus a distant second at 15% relative market share. MIPS was in third place at 8% with Virage Logic close behind at 7%.

Relative to earnings, Table 3 reveals that combined, the G6 IP Providers were again in the red, reporting a collective Q3 2009 net loss $22 million, compared to net losses of $18.7 million and $24.9 million in the year ago and the quarter ago periods, respectively. Rambus accounted for the bulk of the losses in all three periods. ARM, CEVA and MIPS managed net earnings while the other three suffered net loses.

On a year-over-year basis, ARM’s earnings fell 46%. Virage Logic and MoSys endured increased losses. MIPS had a turn around quarter going from a loss of nearly $7 million in Q3 2008 to a net gain of $595,000 in Q3 of 2009.

On a sequential basis, three IP vendors were up and three were down. MIPS went from a net loss of $6.7 million in Q2 2009 to a net gain of $595,000 in Q3 2009. ARM was up 9%, CEVA down 24% and MoSys essentially flat.

 

Q3 2009 Results of Individual Electronics IP Providers:

On October 27, 2009 ARM Holdings plc reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. Total revenue for the quarter was $123 million, a drop of 8.5% from the $134 million in the same quarter a year earlier, but a 16.6% gain from the $105 million in the prior quarter. Overall semiconductor industry revenues are forecast to have declined about 18% in the same period.

Total dollar license revenues in Q3 2009 declined by 14% year-on-year to $39.7 million, representing 32% of group revenues. License revenues comprised $30.9 million from PD and $8.8 million from PIPD. Total dollar royalty revenues in Q3 2009 declined by 6% to $62.3 million, representing 51% of group revenues. Royalty revenues comprised $53.1 million from PD and $9.2 million from PIPD.

PD royalty revenues in Q3 2009 declined 4% year-on-year. This compares with industry revenues declining by 20% in the shipment period (i.e. Q2 2009 compared to Q2 2008), demonstrating ARM’s continuing market share gains over the last 12 months.

PIPD royalties in Q3 2009 were $9.2 million. This did not include any catch-up royalties; therefore underlying royalty revenues were at a similar level to the $9.3 million reported in Q3 2008, compared to the forecasted decline in overall foundry revenue of 21% in the corresponding period.

Sales of development systems in Q3 were $14 million, a decrease of 4% year-on-year and representing 11% of group revenues. However, development systems revenue increased sequentially which was partly due to two large software tools licenses being signed in the quarter. Given that deals of this type are infrequent in this division, development systems revenues in Q4 2009 are expected to be closer to the underlying quarterly revenue run-rate of $10-$12 million.

Service revenues in Q2 2009 were $7.0 million, a decrease of 9% year-on-year and representing 7% of group revenues.

The Processor Division (PD), formerly the original ARM, had total revenues of $84 million, a decrease of 7.4% from the year ago quarter, but an 18.6% increase from the prior quarter. Twenty-eight processor licenses were signed in Q3. Twenty-three of the licenses were for ARM’s advanced Cortex and Mali™ graphics processors of which eight licenses were signed for the Cortex-A family processors. Thirteen of the licenses were signed for the Cortex-R and Cortex-M family of processors, for use in embedded applications

The Physical IP division (PIPD), the Artisan division established after the acquisition at the end of 2004, had total revenue of $18 million, a drop of almost 16% from the same quarter a year earlier, but a 5.9% increase from the preceding quarter ARM signed eight physical IP licenses in Q3 for technologies at process nodes from 180nm to 28nm for a wide range of ARM products

Net income for the quarter was $11.3 million a 46% decrease compared to $21.2 million in the year ago quarter but a 7.8% gain from the $10.5 million in the previous quarter.

Warren East, Chief Executive Officer, said, “Q3 was a good quarter for ARM. Despite pressure on customers’ R&D budgets we are pleased that continuing strong demand from industry leaders, combined with our broadest range of products and effective use of licensing models, has delivered a record number of processor licenses. We are particularly encouraged by the licensing of ARM’s next generation processor technology, and by the first license to a leading fabless semiconductor company of ARM's advanced 28nm physical IP. Such agreements are the drivers of ARM’s long-term royalty growth, and as ARM becomes the technology of choice in smart, connected and low-power consumer electronic devices we continue to gain market share.

Once again we have demonstrated the resilience in the ARM business model; our improving revenue and disciplined cost control has delivered a sequential improvement in margins and profitability, as well as a high level of cash generation.”

On October 28, 2009 CEVA, Inc reported financial results for the third quarter the period ended September 30, 2009. Total revenue for the quarter was $9.7 million, a dip of 5.4% from the $10.2 million in the third quarter of 2008, but a 6% increase from the $9.1 million in the second quarter of 2009. License revenue was $5.2 million, accounting for 54% of total revenue. This was a decline of over 12% from the year ago quarter, but an increase of nearly 23% from the just prior quarter. Royalty revenue was $3.6 million or 38% of the total. This was an increase of 12% year-over-year, but a drop of 6.5% sequentially. Other Revenue of $723,000 accounted for the remaining 7.5%

During the third quarter, the Company concluded six new license agreements. Five agreements were for CEVA DSP cores, platforms and software and one agreement was for Bluetooth technology. Target applications for customer deployment are 2G ultra-low cost phones, 3G handsets, Smartphones, mobileTVs, portable multimedia and Passive Optical Networks (PON). Geographically, three of the agreements signed were in Europe and three in Asia.

During the quarter, CEVA customers shipped 89 million units, up 24% year-over-year, and up 34% sequentially. Of these units, 75 million were from customers paying per unit royalties, and 14 million were from customers on prepaid royalty.

Net income for the quarter was $1.7 million, an increase of 25% from the $1.4 million in the same quarter a year earlier, but a drop of over 24% from the $2.3 million in the just preceding quarter.

Gideon Wertheizer, Chief Executive Officer of CEVA, stated, "Our solid third quarter performance reflects a strong demand for our DSPs and technologies and a continued worldwide market share expansion in the handsets market which reached a record high of 23%. We are encouraged by the increasing demand for our newest technologies for the growing markets of LTE, MID, HD multimedia and Passive Optical Networks (PON)."

Yaniv Arieli, CFO of CEVA, stated, "Our third quarter results and the positive momentum in our business exceeded our expectations. As a result, our gross and operating margins as well as our non-GAAP net income and EPS reached record highs during the quarter. We also generated positive cash flow of approximately $4.0 million, bringing our cash balances and marketable securities to $91.8 million."

On October 29, 2009 MIPS Technologies reported financial results for its first quarter 2010 ended September 30, 2009. Revenue for the quarter was $15.0 million, an increase of 19% over the prior quarter revenue of $12.6 million and a decrease of 23% from the $19.6 million reported in the first fiscal quarter a year ago.

Revenue from royalties was $9.8 million, a decrease of 16% year-over-year but an increase 27% sequentially. License revenue was $5.2 million, a decrease of 34% from the year ago quarter but an increase of 6% from the prior quarter. The sequential increases (106 million units versus 82 million units) generally reflect the improving semiconductor market from its low point in the first half of the calendar year.

Net income for the quarter was $595,000. This included a $1.0 million accrual for estimated taxes which relates to a one time change in the legal structure of MIPS foreign operations. This compares to net losses of $7.0 million and $6.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier and in the preceding quarter respectively. The year ago quarter had a $12 million loss from discontinued operations.

John Bourgoin, MIPS president and CEO, said, "Revenues and operating margins improved as expected in the first quarter. We are pleased to see continued improvements in the market as demonstrated by our strong royalty growth. We are optimistic that we have passed the low point in revenues. We also made excellent progress in taking the Android platform into digital home devices and joined the Open Handset Alliance to contribute to continued development of Android for mobile devices. MIPS is positioned for a strong year.”

On October 27, 2009 MoSys, Inc. reported financial results for the third quarter, the period ended September 30, 2009. Total revenue for the quarter was $3.4 million, a drop of nearly 17% from the $4.0 million in the third quarter of 2008, but a 70% increase from the $2.0 million in the second quarter of 2009. License revenue was $1.3 million, accounting for 40% of total revenue. This was an increase of 11% year-over-year, and an increase of 335% sequentially. These increases in license revenue were primarily driven by growth in revenues from ongoing interface IP projects. Royalty revenue was $2.0 million, or 60% of the total. This was a drop of 29% from the year ago quarter, but an increase of over 21% from the prior quarter. The sequential increase in royalty revenue was primarily due to an increase in revenue from a major IDM licensee. Most production by this IDM licensee is now subject to a license agreement that provides for royalties on its SoC at a more advanced process node to be reported and recognized in the quarter subsequent to shipment of the licensee’s products, instead of the shipment quarter, as was the case under the previous agreement. The licensee’s transition to the more advanced process node was substantially completed in the second quarter, resulting in increased royalty revenue from this IDM licensee in the third quarter.

On June 6, 2009 MoSys announced the acquisition of substantially all of the assets and business of privately held Prism Circuits, Inc., a profitable supplier of high data rate parallel and serial interface (I/O) IP. MoSys paid approximately $13.5 million at the closing, and potentially will pay an additional earn-out amount of up to $6.5 million after the first anniversary of the closing date, subject to the attainment of specified milestones during the initial 12-month post-acquisition period.

Net loss for the quarter was $5.0 million. This was a 56% increase relative to the loss of $3.2 million in the same quarter a year earlier, and essentially flat compared to the net loss of %5.1 million in the preceding quarter.

Commenting on the quarter, Len Perham, MoSys’ President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “In the third quarter, the significant increase in our total revenue was driven by strong growth, both sequentially and year-over-year, in our licensing revenue, which was enhanced by contributions from our high-speed serial interface IP. I see networking and communications applications as a strategic growth area for MoSys and believe that our high-speed interface IP and design expertise, combined with 1T-SRAM, will be a key driver of that growth. I am pleased to report that we added two new customers, both adopting our high speed SerDes interface IP for networking and communications applications. Our goal is to become the partner of choice for our customers’ high-speed interface IP needs by exceeding their expectations while delivering the most competitive, cost-effective and robust solutions. Early in the fourth quarter, we booked a follow-on project from one of these new customers. Also, in October, we signed a significant technology license agreement for 1T-SRAM with a major Japanese IDM, also a new customer to MoSys. The license is initially for DDI applications and may expand into additional applications in the future.”

On October 22, 2009 Rambus Inc. reported financial results for the third quarter of 2009, the period ended September 30, 2009. Revenue for the third quarter of 2009 was $27.9 million, up 3.3% sequentially from the second quarter of 2009 primarily due to higher variable royalty revenue. As compared to the third quarter of 2008, revenue was down 5.3% primarily due to lower contract revenue. Revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 was $82.2 million, down 21.6% over the same period of last year, primarily due to revenue recognized from Elpida during the first half of 2008.

Total costs and expenses for the third quarter of 2009 were $48.5 million, which included $7.7 million of stock-based compensation expenses. This is compared to total costs and expenses of $49.3 million for the second quarter of 2009, which included $7.9 million of stock-based compensation. General litigation expenses for the third quarter were $12.0 million, a decrease of $3.0 million from the second quarter of 2009. Total costs and expenses in the third quarter of last year were $60.0 million, which included $9.0 million of stock-based compensation expenses, $4.0 million of restructuring-related expenses, $2.2 million of asset impairment expenses and $0.4 million of previous stock-based compensation restatement and related legal expenses. General litigation expenses in the third quarter of 2009 decreased $3.7 million from the third quarter of 2008.

Net loss for the quarter was $27.5 million, an improvement compared to a net loss of $30.9 million in the year ago quarter, but a greater loss than the $23.9 million in the preceding quarter.

Harold Hughes, president and chief executive officer at Rambus, said, "The recovery in chip sales following an industry overcorrection, and modest growth in our focus markets, helped deliver revenues at the high end of our guidance. While there is much work ahead, we continue to progress in our strategy of creating and licensing innovations that make great computing and consumer electronics products possible."

On November 2, 2009 Virage Logic Corporation reported financial result for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended September 30, 2009. Total revenue for the quarter was $13.1 million, a 15.2% drop from the $15.5 million in the same quarter last year but an increase of over 10% from the $11.9 million in the prior quarter. License revenue was $10.9 million or 83% of total revenue, down 10% year-over-year but up almost 2% sequentially. Royalty revenue was $2.2 million accounting for 17% of the total. This was down 34% from the year ago quarter but an increase of 87% from the preceding quarter.

Net loss for the quarter was $3.2 million compared to a net loss of $47,000 a year earlier and compared to a net loss of $1.9 million in the previous quarter.

Total revenue for the fiscal year was $47.4 million, a drop of 20% from the $59.3 million in the previous fiscal year. License revenue was $39 million or 83% of total revenue. This was a decrease of 17% from the prior year. Royalty revenue was $8.2 million or 17% of the total. This was a decline of over 32%. Net loss for the year was $34 million versus a net gain of $554,000 in the previous fiscal year.

For the year North America accounted for 54% versus 50% in the prior year. EMEA accounted for 11% down from 14% a year earlier, while APAC accounting for 35% was essentially flat. On a process node basis 45nm-65nm generated $26.5 million or 67% of total $39 million license revenue, essentially flat on a dollar basis. Process nodes 80nm to 90nm accounted for $6.2 million or 16%, while more mature technologies at 130nm and above generated $6.7 million or 17%.

On the quarterly analyst call Virage Logic pointed out that due to their dramatically broadened product offering the Served Available Market (SAM) which had been around $200 million has increased five fold to over $1 billion. The SAM is the total non-captive dollars sold by all third parties (>20) in the areas of Virage Logic products, e.g. memory controllers and logic libraries.

Virage Logic President and CEO, Dr. Alex Shubat, said, "We grew our license revenues from $10.7 million in the third quarter to $10.9 million in the fourth quarter. Our royalty revenue grew from $1.2 million to $2.2 million as foundry utilization increased.

Fiscal 2009 was a pivotal year for the company and we are proud of the progress we made on our transformation goals, especially in light of the challenging global economic environment.”

Stock Market Prices of the G6 Electronics IP Providers

The G6 stock prices on average outperformed the major stock indexes both year-over-year and sequentially.

As shown in Tables 5 and 6 and Figure 4 below, the combined stock prices for the G6 increased 11.3% year-over-year in absolute terms and rose nearly 19% sequentially. On average the G6 stock prices rose 2.5% year-over-year and 21% from the preceding quarter. Relative to last year ARM and RMBS stock price rose over 30% with CEVA next in line at just under 30%. MoSys was the largest decliner at -41% followed by MIPS at almost -32%. On a sequential basis all stock prices increased considerably. MoSys was the leader at over 51%. CEVA and MIPS saw increases over 20%. The remaining firms have stock price growth percentage in the teens.

The Dow and S&P indexes dropped in the area of 10% relative to the third quarter of 2008, while the Nasdaq rose 1.5%. On a sequential basis the three indexes rose around 15%.

 

Forecast Guidance from Individual IP Providers

The G6 IP providers who provide guidance are not very optimistic relative to last year. AS a group they are forecasting a 20% drop year-over-year, -10% as an average. Virage Logic is the only firm with a rosy projection (+33%). On a sequential basis, Virage Logic is again much more optimistic (+43%) than the other firms. However, all are projecting revenue growth.

 

Individual Company by Company Guidance

As guidance ARM reports, “ARM is encouraged by the improving confidence in our customer-base, and we reiterate guidance that we expect group dollar revenues for the full year to be at least in line with current market expectations.”

As guidance CEVA expects revenue in the next quarter to be in the range of $9.4 million and $10.4 million, compared to $9.7 million in the quarter just reported and compared to $10 million in the same quarter a year ago. For the year CEVA expects total revenue to be in the range of $37.7 and $38.7 million compared to $40.6 million in the prior year.

As guidance MIPS expects revenue in the next quarter to be in the range of $15.5 million to $17.3 million, compared to $15 million in the quarter just reported and compared to $26.5 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

As guidance Rambus expects revenue in the next quarter to be in the range of $26 million to $30 million, this compares to $28 million in the quarter just reported and to $40.5 in the fourth quarter of 2008.

As guidance Virage Logic forecasts revenue in the next quarter to be in the range of $18.5 million to $19 million including royalties in the range of $3.2 million to $3.4 million. This compares to $13.1 million in the quarter just reported and to $14.1 in the same quarter a year earlier.

EDA Consortium's Market Statistics

 

On September 30, 2009 The EDA Consortium Market Statistics Service (MSS) announced that the EDA industry revenue for Q2 2009 was $1,125 million, a 5.6% sequential decline from Q1. On a yearly Q2/Q2 basis, EDA industry revenue declined 15.8% to $1,126 million, compared to $1,336 million in Q2 2008. The four-quarter moving average declined 13.9%.

In the second quarter of 2009 the CAE segment accounted for 40% of the total EDA revenue, IC Design & Verification for 24%, Semiconductor IP for 20%, PCB/MCM for 9.4% and Services for 7%. All product sectors suffered declines. PCB/MCM and Services each declined over 20%, the rest dropped by percentage points in the teens.

For the second quarter of 2009 North America accounted for 45% of total EDA revenue, EMEA and Japan for around 19% each and APAC for the remaining 16%. EMEA and Japan EDA revenue fell by over 20%, while North American and PAAC revenue fell in the area of 12%.

Dr. Wally Rhines, EDAC chair and chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics, said, “This recession started with the most precipitous drop in electronics industry history. Nevertheless, the normal pattern of preserving most R&D spending has been maintained by most electronics companies. As the electronics industry recovers, and its R&D spending increases to come in line with its groilkhwing revenue, the EDA industry would be expected to recover as well.”

                                                                                ####

About the Authors of this Electronics IP Commentary:

Since 1996, Dr. Russ Henke has been president of HENKE ASSOCIATES, a San Francisco Bay Area high-tech business & management consulting firm. The number of client companies for Henke Associates now numbers more than forty. During his corporate career, Henke operated sequentially on "both sides" of MCAE/MCAD and EDA, as a user and as a vendor. He's a veteran corporate executive from Cincinnati Milacron, SDRC, Schlumberger Applicon, Gould Electronics, ATP, and Mentor Graphics. Henke is a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and served on the SME International Board of Directors. He is also a member of the IEEE and a Life Fellow of ASME International. In April 2006, Dr. Henke received the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from The CAD Society, presented by CAD Society president Jeff Rowe at COFES2006 in Scottsdale, AZ. In February 2007, Henke became affiliated with Cyon Research's select group of experts on business and technology issues as a Senior Analyst. This Cyon Research connection aids and supplements Henke's ongoing, independent consulting practice (HENKE ASSOCIATES). Dr. Henke has recently replaced Ms. Peggy Aycinena as an editor of EDAcafé Weekly.

An affiliate of the HENKE ASSOCIATES team since 2001, LA-based Dr. John R. (Jack) Horgan co-authored this Novembert 2009 IP Industry Commentary. Dr. Horgan's prior corporate career has included executive positions at Applicon, Aries Technology, CADAM and MICROCADAM, as well as a stint at IBM. Dr. Horgan is also an editor of EDAcafé Weekly.

Since May 2003 the authors have now published a total of eighty-two (82) independent articles on MCAD, PLM, EDA and Electronics IP on IBSystems' MCADCafé and EDACafé. Further information on HENKE ASSOCIATES, and URL's for past Commentaries, are available at http://www.henkeassociates.net. March 31, 2009 marked the 13th Anniversary of the founding of HENKE ASSOCIATES.

Inquiries welcome, email Email Contact.