Upload
phungthien
View
216
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Thoughts on
Creative Collaboration
Rick Bahr
Executive Director, Stanford SystemX Alliance
Sep 26, 2016
H I G H L E V E L F O R U M
G R E N O B L E I N N O VAT I O N F O R A D VAN C E D N E W T E C H N O L O G I E S
Disclaimers
WHILE PRESENTLY AT STANFORD, MY REAL BACKGROUND IS IN THE COMPUTING
AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS/SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRIES, WITH JUST A
FOOT IN ACADEMIA.
MY TENURE IN THOSE INDUSTRIES OVERLAPPED A TIME OF PERHAPS
REVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS, BUT ONES INTRODUCED INTO
VERY EVOLUTIONARY MARKETS.
MY EXPERIENCES ARE CONFINED TO ROUTE 128/BOSTON AND THE SILICON
VALLEY/CA BAY AREA.
THIS IS A QUALITATIVE, OBSERVATIONAL TALK … NOT A RESEARCH REPORT
MY HOPE IS TO COMMUNICATE ABOUT SOME OF THE MOST REMARKABLE
COLLABORATIVE TEAM EXPERIENCES I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO BE A PART
OF, AND PERHAPS SOME OF THE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED.
2
Ingredients of Creative Collaboration: MACRO Picture
3 3
CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS
SUPPORTIVE SETTING
COMMON PURPOSE
Creative Individuals, Some Markers
UNIVERSITY PRESENCE: THE TRIGGER
Silicon Valley (Stanford, Berkeley, …)
Boston/Route 128 (MIT, Harvard, …)
CRITICAL MASS OF KNOWLEDGE, WITH EMPLOYMENT MOBILITY
EXAMPLE: Computing/US: Phila/New York to Boston to Silicon Valley
EXAMPLE: Semiconductors: New York to Texas to California … Taiwan++
EXAMPLE: Social Media: Facebook, Google, Twitter, ... many Bay Area (for now)
DIVERSITY IN WORKFORCE
Educational and cultural backgrounds
Diversity in disciplinary backgrounds
SELF RELIANT SPIRIT
Adventurous spark (for learning or finding fortune)
4
Silicon Valley Journey: Evolution in the “Technology Tribes”
5
Adventurous Spark Diversity Critical masses of talents
University Presence
Supportive Setting, Some Markers
CULTURAL VALUE ALIGNMENT WITH INNOVATION
Encouragement of personal risk-taking
Personal integrity & meritocracy for ideas
Discouragement of excuses/safety-nets/circumstantial victim (true self reliance)
SUPPORTIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Venture capital availability for startup based diversification
Corporate sheltering for established business diversification
Regional ecosystem of enablement (e.g., contract manufacturing)
RICHNESS IN IDEA FLOW
Openness to harvesting university insight
Journals, conferences, seminars … job mobility
PRESSURE TO SUCCEED OR FAIL
Motivation can be desperation, or inspiration
6
“Regional Advantage” (AnnaLee Saxenian)
SILICON VALLEY SUCCESS
Read her book (albeit dated now)
Environment: universities, investment, risk taking culture, …
BUT especially: horizontal companies with focused innovation
Collaboration even in the Corporate Ecosystem
7
Rick’s Employers
Common Purpose, Some Markers
A REAL BUSINESS NEED
An easy, cross-cultural goal is revenue goaling (not my favorite)
Startup has blinding focus on a first product, sink/swim together
Business’ “mid-life” crisis
NOT a “Build it and they will come” philosophy
NOT a “Second System Syndrome”
ALWAYS PUSH AND PULL
Technological opportunity (Push)
Application intersection (Pull)
TEAM REWARD MODEL
Individual recognition quietly meaningful, and meritocratic
Public recognition emphasizing joint accomplishment
COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP/PROTECTION
9
Computer Development Landscape
11
Time
Co
st
Supercomputer
Mainframe
Minicomputer
PC
Smartphone
Workstation
Smart Environment
Vertically Integrated Companies,
Heroic deployment
Integrated Technology
Opportunists
(Rick’s home)
Systems
Integrators
Computer Development Landscape
12
Time
Co
st
Supercomputer
Mainframe
Minicomputer
PC
Smartphone
Workstation
Smart Environment
Integrated Technology
Opportunists
Apollo DN10000 Workstation … The Project
DEVELOPMENT TIMEFRAME
1985 – 1988 (3¼ years)
TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
RISC computing in a W/S, new ISA (PRISM) ala MIPS, SPARC, CLIPPER, i860
1st, 3 wide parallel instructions w floating point computational emphasis in a W/S
1st, Multiprocessing in a W/S
Toshiba 1.25u foundry, ICS/Vertex designed 8K-30K gate arrays in a W/S
Enabled by a new breed of design tools (Synopsys, Mentor, AIDA, etc)
Enabled by operating system and application portability
BUSINESS ASPIRATIONS
Workstations were challenging the notion of mainframes, mini’s
MCAD modeling, ECAD simulation needed an answer
MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM COMPOSITION
30-50 in digital design, product design, compilers, o/s
UNIVERSITY INSPIRATION
MIPS at Stanford
13
14 14
CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS
SUPPORTIVE SETTING
COMMON PURPOSE
Apollo DN10000 Workstation … The Collaboration
MIPS inspiration DEC, Prime, Wang, DG people eco-system Multi-disciplinary team formed Critical mass in critical areas
Founder/executive sheltering Emerging fabless model Emerging gate array design model Emerging tools from AIDA, Synopsys, Mentor Physical core team isolation
Startup excitement lingering Competition/threat from SUN, IBM, HP Learning so much together Apollo needed more vertical solutions
Computer Development Landscape
15
Time
Co
st
Supercomputer
Mainframe
Minicomputer
PC
Smartphone
Workstation
Smart Environment
Integrated Technology
Opportunists
SGI Origin 2000 Scalable Supercomputer… The Project
DEVELOPMENT TIMEFRAME
1994 – 1996 (2¼ years)
TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
Standard RISC microprocessor (MIPS/10K) system for “Supercomputer Apps”
1st, ccNUMA scalable shared memory system to reach 100’s (512) of CPUs
IBM .5u CMOS foundry, w IBM pioneered sea of gates, testability, packaging
SuperHIPPI clustering technology
Enabled by scientific apps natural parallelism & portability (e.g., MPI)
BUSINESS ASPIRATIONS
Workstation capability was challenging the notion of supercomputers
ASCI Blue Mountain, NRO’s EIS, NCAR, NOAH, … opened eyes
Needed more of a portfolio in gross margins (microprocessor slide starting)
MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM COMPOSITION
50-100 in digital design, product design, parallelizing compilers, o/s
UNIVERSITY INSPIRATION
DASH at Stanford
16
17 17
CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS
SUPPORTIVE SETTING
COMMON PURPOSE
Origin 2000 Scalable Supercomputer… The Collaboration
DASH inspiration Silicon Valley eco-system Multi-disciplinary team formed Critical mass in critical areas
Executive sheltering Consensus on attack from below IBM pioneered mainframe technology Organizational core team isolation
New applications complement the graphics Chance to redefine supercomputing Natural evolution from bus based systems Building on a computing business trajectory
DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION
Atheros implements 5 GHz RF circuits using low-cost digital
CMOS!
Regulatory 1997 opening of
unlicensed 5GHz UNII which allows free use
of bandwidth
Technology Advance Signal Processing algorithms
achieve maturity, enabling OFDM
through wireless media
Convergence of factors led to Atheros’ being founded
Now for Something Completely Different
Dr. John Hennessy,
then Provost,
now President of
Stanford University
Founded by….
Dr. Teresa Meng,
Professor of Electrical
Engineering,
Stanford University
Atheros CMOS/Single Chip Wi-Fi … The Project
DEVELOPMENT TIMEFRAME
1998 – 2001 (1st 11a product, 3 years) – 2004 (1st 11a/g single chip)
TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
Standard “digital” .25u CMOS for radio
1st, 5 GHz Wi-Fi radio
1st, dataplane only Wi-Fi chip (no local processor, needed heavy modeling)
Enabled by wireless standards: 802.11a, b …
Enabled by standard PC interfaces (Cardbus, miniPCI, NDIS drivers)
Enabled by cellphone packaging, Cadence design tools
Enabled by new 5 GHz unlicensed band
BUSINESS ASPIRATIONS
Disrupt Wi-Fi solution space in cost and performance
Not fail as a startup
MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM COMPOSITION
50-100 in analog, digital design, IC and system test, driver s/w, algorithms
UNIVERSITY INSPIRATION
CMOS/RF at Stanford and Berkeley
19
20 20
CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS
SUPPORTIVE SETTING
COMMON PURPOSE
Atheros CMOS/Single Chip Wi-Fi … The Collaboration
CMOS/RF inspiration Silicon Valley eco-system Multi-disciplinary team formed Critical mass in many critical areas
Venture funding Unflagging belief in Teresa Meng, and she in us Deep interest from TSMC, Cadence Wired networking eco-system to co-opt Fabless model fully in place
Do or die together Extremely competitive surrounding Excitement in pioneering CMOS Emerging laptops, market forces
My Top 10 on High Performing, Highly Collaborative Teams
1. COHERENT, UNWAVERING, SUPPORTIVE LEADERSHIP ABOVE
2. HIGHLY SELECTIVE, BUT DEEP RISK TAKING W CRITICAL MASS IN TEAMS
3. CONVERGENCE OF MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITIES & INSPIRATION
4. ENGINEERING PIONEERING AND NOT BUSINESS PLAN PIONEERING (FOR ME)
5. HIGHLY ADAPTABLE, FLEXIBLE ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS CONTRIBUTORS
6. PROJECT LEADER AS AN ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR, NOT JUST A “MANAGER”
7. (PRODUCTIVE) PRESSURE TO SUCCEED INTERNALLY
8. PRESSURE TO SUCCEED EXTERNALLY (COMPETITION, IDEA’S SHELF LIFE)
9. READY SUPPLY CHAIN FOR PRODUCTIZATION
10.TOOLS ADEQUATE TO THE TASK
21
22 22
CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS
SUPPORTIVE SETTING
COMMON PURPOSE
University Creative Collaboration?
Multidisciplinary Competencies
Industrial Alliance for support (and insight)
System solution for compelling applications
Device Scaling Turns to System Scaling: The System X Alliance
23
System Driven Innovation • Finding solutions at all levels of the Technology Stack • Hub for System Integration at Stanford
Transistor
Circuit
System
Process Technology
Application
Inn
ova
tio
n
Insp
ira
tio
n
Multidisciplinary Collaboration • >50 profs across >10 depts • Focus areas include: Energy, IOE,
Quantum, BIO, Design Productivity, Heterogeneous Integration, Computing
23
Alliance of University & Industry • Foundation of CIS semiconductor relationships • 23 members reflect our changing industry