Java/sup TM/ in electronic design automation

Increasing design complexity and the need for multi-disciplinary/multi-national design collaboration is causing a paradigm shift in EDA application environment. This shift is necessary in order that time-to-profit goals are met in increasingly compressed market windows. The envisioned paradigm is enabled through Sun's Java/sup TM/ technology. This technology will impact significantly the development, deployment, use and support the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) applications. This paper will examine some of the factors influencing this forthcoming EDA revolution and review some of the challenges yet to be resolved.