ECAD, Inc., based in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

, was an early vendor of

electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

software. The company was best known for its design rule checking product ''Dracula'', but also produced IC layout and PC layout software. Eventually, in a merger with SDA, it became

Cadence Design Systems Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (stylized as cādence)Investor's Business DailCEO Lip-Bu Tan Molds Troubled Cadence Into Long-Term LeaderRetrieved November 12, 2020 is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology and computational ...

ECAD history

ECAD was founded in August 1982 by Paul Huang, Ping Chao, and Glen M. Antle, who had worked at

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

, ITT, Teledyne,

Data General Data General Corporation was an early minicomputer firm formed in 1968. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Their first product, 1969's Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicomputer intended to ...

, and (just before founding ECAD), the microelectronics products division of Systems Engineering Laboratories (SEL) in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...

. While developing a new computer design at SEL, the CAD group wrote a new (and very fast) algorithm for Design rule checking (DRC). These ideas eventually became the basis of ECAD's products. In 1982, SEL was acquired by Gould Inc., and part of the CAD group spun out as ECAD. ECAD's first product was Dracula, introduced in April 1983. It included a design-rule checker, an electrical rule checker, and a layout-versus-schematic consistency checker among other programs. This was followed by SYMBAD, an IC layout product suite. ECAD sold only software, an unusual business tactic at this time. However, it was consistently profitable. In 1987, it went public on NASDAQ, and in 1988 in a merger with SDA Systems, it became

References

{{reflist Electronic design automation companies Defunct companies based in California Companies based in Santa Clara, California 1980s initial public offerings Corporate spin-offs