A Successful “Flop”

1965, Corvallis, Oregon. It is the end of a long summer day. 18-year old Dick practices his high-jump technique on the tracks of Oregon State University. The few students sitting on the stands barely pay attention to the athlete’s relentless efforts to cross a stubbornly high bar. Had they known… Three years later in Mexico, an electrified crowd of 80.000 acclaims young Dick as he sets a new Olympic record. On that very day, the American athlete won much more than gold: he set a new standard and immortalized the revolutionary technique that got him over the 2.24m bar and would forever hold his name: the Fosbury Flop. But there is a lot more to this story, details that make it all the more interesting. And there are two aspects of Fosbury’s legacy which I think apply rather well to our context in EDA. 

Dick Fosbury's Flop

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Dick Fosbury’s story is amongst the most inspiring ones. Dissatisfied with the back-then dominant “straddle” high-jump technique, he experimented with a new approach. Despite general skepticism from his peers, Fosbury persisted and eventually perfected the technique that would earn him gold. His tale is about dedication and innovation - the same two key ingredients which define success in our industry, the one of electronic design. Whether small improvements or big breakthroughs, innovations are at the heart of our activity. Innovations are what it takes to stay ahead and strive in this highly competitive environment.

1) Changing environments offer opportunities, the key is to recognize them – and seize them. Fosbury’s perseverance was certainly essential to his success, but his ability to grasp the potential offered by technology advances was determinant. Prior to the “flop”, athletes would jump forward and land on their hands; a necessity when sand pits constituted the landing area. But in the 1950’s, soft foam mattresses were introduced. This new landing surface made Fosbury’s technique possible allowing him to safely jump and land on his back.

2) It takes time for a successful innovation to fully deploy. One would think that high-jumpers rapidly adopted the new technique which Fosbury had masterfully demonstrated with his winning 1968 Olympic flop. Yet 12 years later, in 1980, nearly 1 out 5 Olympic finalists still used the old straddle technique. 

2009, Wilsonville, Oregon. Coincidentally not so far away from where Dick Fosbury perfected his game changing technique, a talented team of engineers is relentlessly working to “raise the bar” in electronic design productivity by bringing C Synthesis to the mainstream.

With more than 100 companies using Catapult C and countless tape-outs, C Synthesis is clearly past it’s “Mexico 1968” moment. Customers, big or small, already capitalize on Catapult C to cut design cycles and reduce the verification burden by designing their multi-million gates systems correct-by-construction from their C/C++ specifications.

Like Fosbury in his days, design teams worldwide are now recognizing the potential of high-level synthesis and deciding to capitalize on it. Like Fosbury’s followers, most will adopt this new and more efficient approach, some sooner, some later. It is a matter of time. When will you?

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