Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1267313
34 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2020 When they get in their office, and they get settled in, they'll access Team Center—which is our PLM system—download the zipped da- tabase, and open the data. Then, we'll walk through my instructions to make sure that we're all on the same page. This process is not unique to us. Everyone in the industry, no mat- ter what part of the industry you're in, basi- cally does this. If you're working on a global team and are located in different time zones, you are—more than likely—doing this same basic process in one form or another, especial- ly if you work for a global service bureau. At the end of their shift, they'll repeat the process, but it's bi-directional commu- nication; make no mistake about that! The database then comes back to me. They'll put it back in Team Center, and we'll have another call early in the morn- ing, which may be 5:00 a.m. for me. Then, we'll have another hand- shake, and I'll take the database and go from there. The downside is when you have network problems. At that point, even though we can call each other, I may not be able to ac- cess the updated data or the hand- off data I initially gave them. It screws me big time regarding project schedule because if I lose time in my scheduling and my anticipat- ed amount of effort that I expected to get com- pleted overnight, it's not there when I wake up the next morning, and I was not initially noti- fied, that means I lost an entire day's effort. Network problems pose their own challenge. Matties: How closely do a tool supplier and your cybersecurity team work together? What's the expectation of cybersecurity from an EDA tool company? Chavez: We have a dedicated person whose main role is engineering tools. I want to say they are blended with IT and tools adminis- trator for engineering tools. They handle all the Mentor tools in our integration and work extremely close with Mentor and the IT de- partment to make sure we're all in sync. If we're not, you can very easily grind a com- pany to a halt, and we'll be dead in the wa- ter. No company can ever afford that. And Mentor is very eager to jump for us and is "Johnny-on-the-spot" when it comes to pro- viding support. In my 15+ years using this tool, in my opinion, they're the best—second to none! They're going to flood you with sup- port so that you can be successful way more than you need. Don't get me wrong; we have many other tools we use be- sides Mentor's Xpedition that are successful—Ca- dence Allegro, Altium, and OrCAD are other tools we use as well. I would say that most of our tool providers are doing their part to make sure they're not adding any potential weakness that I know of. Matties: The important takeaway is that the tool sup- plier is working with your cyber- security IT team to make sure that whatever the challenges are, they are being addressed and handled. Chavez: Absolutely. We constantly get emails that are spot-checks for us. We'll get ran- dom emails that we can't tell if they're real or fake. Typically, we'll get an email testing us, and if we don't recognize who it is, we have a quick "report phishing" button so that you can quickly report it. Then, all of a sudden, you'll see a little message that says, "Good eye. Good check. There's a reason why this was a bad email." Our cybersecurity department is con- stantly testing us to keep us on our toes. Espe- cially now working remotely, cybersecurity is a huge issue because it's easy to get infiltrated