[Discuss-gnuradio] IBM VC calls for 'open' hardware

[Steve Schear]

http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160502705

MONTEREY, Calif. — A revolution is coming to the electronics industry, says 
Juan-Antonio Carballo, partner in IBM's venture capital group — and it's 
based on "open" hardware that will foster the kind of collaborative effort 
that Linux has brought to software.

 Carballo presented his argument before a somewhat skeptical audience at 
the Electronic Design Processes (EDP) workshop Thursday (April 7). But 
Carballo insisted that various kinds of "openness," including collaborative 
efforts and open-source models, will change the world of system-on-chip 
(SoC) venture financing.

 "There's a pretty important wave coming in our industry that most of us 
are not noticing, and it could change it completely," said Carballo, who 
happens to be an avid surfer. "The open-source model is quickly extending 
from software to hardware, and it will provide a similar swell of 
collaborative innovation."

 The word "open" has various meanings with respect to hardware and silicon 
intellectual property (IP), he said. At one level, it could mean the 
details can be viewed, but not altered. It might mean the hardware can be 
used for free in a design that can be sold. Or it might mean that a 
community of users can modify details, so long as they donate the 
modifications.

 Thus, for Carballo, the word "open" includes but is not limited to the 
classical definition of open source, in which source is freely available 
and a community of users can contribute modifications. He also noted that 
"open" doesn't necessarily mean free of charge.

 The dilemma, he said, is that companies need to minimize risk, and IP 
often comes from small, creative companies. There is risk in open silicon 
IP. An IP valuation methodology is thus going to be crucial for the open 
hardware effort, Carballo noted.

 Carballo argued that open hardware produces a better return on 
investment. If a company is in an open standards environment, he said, time 
to profit goes down. And he suggested that giving away IP or tools for 
free, even for a limited time, could create a "huge incentive."

 If everything is open and given away, asked one audience member, how will 
anyone make money?

 "That's a different talk," Carballo said. "But think about how people are 
making money on Linux. It's in value-added stuff. Maybe you can make money 
on the chip, or on services around the core."

 Carballo pointed to www.power.org as an example of the kind of 
collaboration he's talking about. Power.org claims to represent a worldwide 
community of developers, tool providers, and manufacturers who are 
collaborating on industry standards and delivering applications based on 
IBM's Power Architecture technology.