text: 
  Siemens acquires Mentor Graphics - JoshTriplett
  https://community.plm.automation.siemens.com/t5/Siemens-PLM-Corporate-Blog/Siemens-and-Mentor-Graphics-Open-Letter-to-Customers/ba-p/399976
  ======
  throwaway232399
  The company I work for was acquired by Siemens PLM last year. I was worried at
  first, but it proved to be much better than expected.
  
  First of all it should be noted that Siemens PLM Software is a different
  company than Siemens AG, with a different culture, different internal rules
  and quite a different business. Most Siemens PLM employees come from other
  acquisitions and they (Siemens) tend to keep the people and integrate them as
  good as possible(in our case all employees were offered contracts and very few
  decided to leave the company after the merger).
  
  For us there was a slight downgrade in terms of internal systems (eg. from
  G-Suite to Exchange and Outlook 2013 and other such changes, but at least we
  can use Win10 instead of Win7).
  
  On the more negative side, the process for traveling is a impossibly
  complicated and there are several other procedures as well that are
  unnecessarily complex and take a long time to go through.
  
  Overall for me it was a positive change so far and my advice to Mentor Graphic
  employees is not to worry too much, change is coming but it will be slow and
  not disruptive.
  
  ~~~
  ksec
  >from G-Suite to Exchange and Outlook 2013
  
  I actually think of that as an upgrade. Or at best they are pretty much the
  same. I have yet to see a Email solution that is any good.
  
  ~~~
  friendzis
  I think they (g-suite, MS suite) solve a bit different problems and I would
  agree that MS suite is more suitable for established enterprise with e.g.
  ability to book meeting times and places, lync integration with e.g. tandberg.
  
  ------
  dano
  Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor Graphics have been fighting it out in the EDA
  industry for decades. Synopsys and Cadence are the leaders of the pack.
  Synopsis has been the better stock over the last 7 years, however, Cadence has
  picked up well too.
  
  ~~~
  kev009
  The industry is basically derelict which may be surprising to a lot of people.
  The design and layout software hasn't changed much in decades. Analog/RF mixed
  signal circuit design in particular is arcane, manual magic even though it
  doesn't have to be with modern computing power and simulation capabilities.
  
  ~~~
  amelius
  The main problem is that _somehow_ there just isn't much money to be made in
  EDA tooling. Go to any EDA conference and ask anyone in a business booth.
  
  ~~~
  kev009
  There's quite a bit of money, a license for a small design shop will easily
  span from mid six figures to millions. There is rampant theft though, see the
  recent [http://norcalrecord.com/stories/511081584-synopsis-claims-
  ub...](http://norcalrecord.com/stories/511081584-synopsis-claims-ubiquiti-
  networks-is-unlawfully-using-software) as an example
  
  The real reason innovation died is a complex and meandering sadness, but
  basically the business leaders prioritized head count and comfort over
  whatever it takes to lure creative, intelligent, academic, etc people into an
  industry and do non-linear things. I think there are similar parallels to
  computer architecture and operating systems, but these are a bit more widely
  approachable so there's still a small influx of academics and new companies.
  
  ~~~
  wolfgke
  > There is rampant theft though, see the recent
  > [http://norcalrecord.com/stories/511081584-synopsis-claims-
  > ub...](http://norcalrecord.com/stories/511081584-synopsis-claims-ub..). as
  > an example
  
  This is not theft, but unauthorized use of the software.
  
  ------
  TheGrassyKnoll
  My introduction to a Unix like operating system was using Aegis on the old
  Apollo workstations that Mentor came out on. (Installing software with giant 8
  inch floppies was big fun)
  
  After getting smoked by Sun, Apollo was absorbed by HP in the 90's...
  
  ~~~
  madengr
  I had HP Microwave Design System on an Apollo workstation.
  
  ------
  joezydeco
  Mentor also owned CodeSourcery. Wonder if that's getting buried even further
  now.
  
  ~~~
  fazkan
  It's not, codesourcery was combined with Nucleus and provided as a completed
  suit called readystart. We have a really good support for hardware out there.
  I know codesourcery alone would have been enough but they just repackaged it.
  
  P.S. I work on Nucleus..
  
  ------
  yitchelle
  Mentor Graphics is also a big player in the Automotive industry supplying many
  large OEMs and Suppliers with AutoSAR platforms (among others) and integration
  engineering services.
  
  It will be interesting how this plays out in that domain.
  
  ------
  jamez1
  "By the way, once Mentor Graphics is integrated, you will see there, up on the
  left side, a $4.7 billion revenue, which brings us to the top 10 of software
  companies globally. Believe it or not, this is our best strength. And if you
  really look at that, we are really focused on our industry software. We are
  amongst the leaders. And that's a very powerful portfolio which helps us
  really driving the digitalization agenda at our customers very much. You see
  already in MindSphere the operating system, open operating system. I will
  explain to you what it does and how it benefits our customers, some of the
  benefits."
  
  Sounds like management just wanted to say they run a big company. I don't see
  why this acquisition makes sense for shareholders
  
  ~~~
  orbifold
  They already produce various simulation tools for simulation aspects of
  factories (robots, production lines, etc). Adding a "RTL simulator" company
  seems like a logical step, the verification problems share a lot of common and
  you get to claim that you are able to simulate the industrial robot including
  its custom microchips, or a car seat (they have custom chips for the airbags
  for example).
  
  ------
  sporkenfang
  Isn't this old news? I heard about it roughly four months ago and don't work
  for either company.
  
  ~~~
  sam
  The acquisition was announced last November but it appears that the deal
  actually closed today.
  
  ------
  josh_carterPDX
  This actually makes a lot of sense. Siemens has a number of different hardware
  systems and Mentor Graphics could provide a better solution for them as they
  work to transition away from hardware.
  
  Avaya struggled with this in the telecom space and are struggling to survive.
  Siemens' telecom gear is a distant 3rd to Avaya and Cisco, but if they can do
  what both of them have been unable to do up to this point, they may be able to
  gobble up some market share in the enterprise communication space on top of
  their other hardware solutions.
  
  ~~~
  currysausage
  _> Siemens' telecom gear_
  
  Siemens hasn't been active in the telecom space for a while, they gave up on
  this business more than 10 years ago. Unify, formerly Siemens Enterprise
  Communications (majority-owned by Gores Group since 2008), has been a 100 %
  subsidiary of Atos for over a year now.
  
  ~~~
  josh_carterPDX
  Ah you're right. Totally forgot about that. Thanks for clarifying. :)
  
  ------
  valuearb
  I don't want to date how old I am, but when I first started as a developer in
  Oregon, Mentor Graphics was big into object oriented programming. They even
  had a OOPS research think tank, but can't remember it's name.
  
  ------
  johansch
  .. and noone here (including myself) has any clue what it means in real-life.
  There is no discussion of potential consequences etc.
  
  I'm not sure this is how it should be (EDA professionals congregrate
  elsewhere, I assume)... but it kinda sucks. These things are so important to
  our collective progression, but it's all done in closed-source silos when it
  comes to hardware things.
  
  ~~~
  robotdad
  Where do EDA types congregate?
  
  ~~~
  ihaveajob
  Back when I was at Intel I wasn't aware of anyone frequenting EDA-specific
  forums. The annual IDC (Intel Developers Conference) was the biggest physical
  meetup as far as I recall. Also, there were the other company-led events. Very
  segmented.
  
  ------
  madengr
  Does anyone actually use Tormentor (other than Calibre for DRC)?
  
  ------
  ausjke
  how does this make sense? Siemens really has nothing to do with EDA/etc.
  
  ~~~
  jlarocco
  What? Siemens has a whole division working on PLM, including the high-end NX
  CAD system. No doubt the plan involves integrating Mentor's EDA with NX.
  
  ~~~
  phkahler
  Not to mention parasoled which is the core of almost every other commercial
  CAD program.
  
  