🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <47envn$e12@caesar.ultra.net>,
   ingraham@ultranet.com (Andy Ingraham) wrote:

>At work, we have a relationship with LSI Logic that is quite different!
>We get pretty good support from them.  They generally always return
>phone calls and answer e-mail.  Data books are easy to get.
>
>Then again, we buy a lot of their chips, so we're probably one of their
>favored customers.

And certainly one of their largest. And now that we're making money, we're 
probably even PAYING them on time! ;^)

>We work through the people in their local field office, who are quite
>knowledgeable and responsive.

And know all the good local restaurants! ;^)

>On the other hand, we have to work hard in this relationship; nothing's
>easy about designing chips on the leading edge (or only a few steps
>behind it).

Not to mention that we actually forced LSI to pay us to put our engineers in 
their CA office to straighten out the mess LSI had sunk into when they were 
in high-growth-mode-without-a-clue about 5 years ago! ;^)

>What makes it work for us, I think, is a combination of the excellent
>staff at LSI's field office, and persistence on our part to keep right
>on top of everything.  It's not uncommon for us to hold weekly conference
>calls with them that last for months, covering just one facet of the
>whole job of designing a new chip.  And I've spent several hours in
>their offices, both at meetings with them (called with a moment's notice),
>and working with them on some of the design work on our chips (on their
>terribly slow Sun workstations - ugh!).

I'll second the dog-ass Sun's. The only pizza-box that'll make me physically 
ill to be near! ;^)

But they're *still* saying the CMD suite will port to Alpha!

Seriously, our relationship with LSI is outstanding, but it wasn't always that 
way. It took repeated bashings with the proverbial cudgel, and again, placing 
some Digital talent in the bowels of LSI's operation, to straighten them out. 
Yet there are still once-burned groups here that refuse to place new designs 
with them. 

My own experiences with LSI have been nothing short of excellent (although 
their NRE rates make me wince). They've been meeting our technical and 
schedule expectations (and their pricing has gotten a bit more aggressive, now 
that Toshiba et al are pushing their own pricing down) and that's where the 
rubber hits the road around here...

And the occasional lunches at Ciro's don't hurt ;^)

Cheers (and hello Andy!)

/dave


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<> Dave Tatosian           tatosian@plough.enet.dec.com <>
<> Digital Equipment Corp.    Alpha Server Engineering  <>
<>         "Read this and nobody gets hurt ;^)"         <>
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