Gary Smith (EDA analyst)

Gary Smith (March 9, 1941 – July 3, 2015[1][2][3]) was a veteran electronic design automation (EDA) business analyst. He was chief analyst of Gary Smith EDA firm.[4][5]

Gary Smith
Born(1941-03-09)March 9, 1941
Stockton, California
DiedJuly 3, 2015(2015-07-03) (aged 74)
Flagstaff, Arizona
Alma materUnited States Naval Academy
Occupation(s)Electronic engineer, business analyst
Websitewww.garysmitheda.com

Biography

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Smith was born in Stockton, California, and grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in engineering from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.[4] After six years of active duty in Vietnam, he returned to civilian life as a salesperson for semiconductor companies including National Electronics, International Rectifier, TRW Inc., Signetics, Telmos, and Plessey. At Plessey, he transitioned to engineering management for ASICs.[2]

Joining LSI Logic, he became a CAD methodologist implementing the then novel register-transfer level (RTL) design methodology.[2]

From 1994 to 2006 he worked for the market research firm Dataquest (later known as Gartner Dataquest) as managing vice-president and chief analyst for EDA market analysis.[4][6] From 2006 up to his death, he led his own market research firm, Gary Smith EDA.

He was known for his pre-Design Automation Conference Dataquest briefings with his "What to see at DAC" list.[6][7] He continued this tradition as an independent analyst.[8][9]

Annually Smith also updated his so-called wallcharts where he visually listed out vendors organized by tool category.[10]

In 2007 he received an ACM SIGDA Distinguished Service award "in recognition for his contributions as Chief EDA Analyst at Gartner Dataquest for the past two decades".[11]

He died on July 3, 2015, in Flagstaff, Arizona, after a short bout of pneumonia.[1] Gary was married to Lori Kate Smith and they had son Casey.[12] He had daughters Tamara and Kim from his first wife, Diana Lee Smith.[3]

The Gary Smith Memorial Scholarship was set up at the San Jose State University.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "In Loving Memory of Gary Smith" (retrieved July 6, 2015 )
  2. ^ a b c d "Gary Smith Memorial Scholarship" Archived 2015-07-10 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved July 9, 2015)
  3. ^ a b "In His Own Words – Gary Smith Biography" (retrieved November 4, 2019)
  4. ^ a b c 'Gary Smith EDA' website
  5. ^ "Gary Smith hails multi-platform design methodology" Archived 2012-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, by Dylan McGrath, eeTimes
  6. ^ a b "SystemVerilog for Design Second Edition: A Guide to Using SystemVerilog for Hardware Design and Modeling", 2006, Springer, ISBN 0387333991, p. 412
  7. ^ "The "What to see at DAC" List", Gabe Moretti, 6/5/2008, eeTimes
  8. ^ "Gary Smith kicks off DAC with his industry commentary", Brian Bailey, eeTimes, 6/5/2012
  9. ^ DAC 2013: The Gary Smith EDA ‘what to see’ list is live by Paul Dempsy Tech Design Forum, May 21, 2013
  10. ^ Wallcharts
  11. ^ Gary Smith to receive ACM Award
  12. ^ "EDA industry analyst Gary Smith dies", By: Rick Nelson, technology journalist, July 6, 2015 (retrieved December 1, 2016)