Mark Rossman Elected Architect of SI2 OpenAccess Change Team

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Mark Rossman, software engineering group director at Cadence Design Systems, is the new architect of the Si2 OpenAccess Change Team, the approving body for changes to the OpenAccess API and reference database implementation. He replaces Michaela Guiney, also from Cadence, who retired in December.

Rossman has spent over 40 years in electronic design automation, developing software algorithms for automatic routing and layout migration capabilities. During the past 20 years at Cadence, he developed routing flows and solution integration for the Virtuoso Platform and organized collaboration between internal groups and key external development partners.

Before the Virtuoso Platform development, he worked on the CCT Cadence Chip Assembly Router routing tools and Catena’s Space Based Routing Technologies. He has five patents granted for routing and layout migration algorithms.

Marshall Tiner, Si2 senior director of OpenAccess, said Rossman “brings extensive experience in routing, layout, and design rule technologies as well as large scale multi-threaded development and collaborative integration. His on-the-job experience with OpenAccess, brings an important perspective to the OpenAccess Coalition.”

About the Silicon Integration Initiative

Si2 is a leading R&D joint venture that provides standard interoperability solutions for IC design tools. Its primary programs include CMC and OpenAccess, the world’s most widely used open reference database for IC design, with a supporting standard APA. All Si2 activities are carried out under the auspices of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, the fundamental law that defines R&D joint ventures and offers them a large measure of protection against federal antitrust laws.

Michaela Guiney Named Si2 Pinnacle Award Winner

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Michaela Guiney, who recently retired after an 18-year career with Cadence Design Systems, has received the quarterly Silicon Integration Initiative Pinnacle Award, recognizing volunteers for their exceptional contributions to Si2’s success as a leading semiconductor research and development joint venture.

Guiney’s latest role at Cadence was senior software architect, working on IC custom design software, including Si2 OpenAccess, one of the industry’s most widely used databases.

She began her career at Hewlett Packard, working on EDA technology and tools for chip design. In 20 years at HP and later Agilent Technologies, she moved her way up the chip design chain, working on custom design and routing tools, a custom design system, and finally an overall chip implementation flow.

Guiney held both engineering and management positions at HP and Agilent. She came full circle when she joined Cadence in 2003 to return to her roots in EDA databases. She served as the co-chief architect of the OpenAccess Change Team until December 2021.

John Ellis, Si2 president and CEO, said Guiney “is of the many unsung heroes who have made OpenAccess the stable platform for EDA development applications the industry has come to rely on. Under her guidance, the Change Team shepherded OpenAccess through six major database revisions and over 100 releases.”

About the Silicon Integration Initiative

Si2 is a leading R&D joint venture that provides standard interoperability solutions for IC design tools. Its primary programs include CMC and OpenAccess, the world’s most widely used open reference database for IC design, with a supporting standard APA. All Si2 activities are carried out under the auspices of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, the fundamental law that defines R&D joint ventures and offers them a large measure of protection against federal antitrust laws.