High-tech

Due Diligence: Siroyan

A way forward

Siroyan has announced one licensee, a large consumer electronics company that will use OneDSP in a range of consumer electronics products. In addition, Neil claims that Siroyan has "a number of blue-chip engagements"; the level of these engagements are unclear, e.g. in terms of how many of these are paid deals or the kind of sweetheart deals that have been commonplace in the semiconductor IP industry. Understandably as a private company, Siroyan declined to discuss its revenue status or burn rate. Siroyan has recently been resetting the expectations of several customers. It plans to make a slew of announcements in the next couple of months. The current strategy however, will need to be fine-tuned, if it is to have an impact in the medium-term.

Announcing traction with a few significant customers would provide Siroyan with a chance to get ahead of the other DSP IP wannabes. How best to achieve this? Several markets have de-facto standards in terms of the general-purpose microprocessor used. Aside from DSPG in certain categories, it can be argued that there are no de-facto market standards for DSP IP cores in other application areas. Rather than try to dominate the DSP IP market, Siroyan should aim to dominate a niche application space, working with the dominant gatekeeper architecture, re-defining its platform strategy in the process. This strategy has been used by DSPG with ARM in cell phones, and by Imagination Technologies with x86, SuperH & ARM in graphics.

Siroyan should strive to create a de-facto standard for a niche platform application in conjunction with either ARM or SuperH, two architectures pervasive in home and mobile multimedia. What is a platform? A trite definition is that a platform is a complete solution that adds value to a customer. A platform, as defined by The Chilli, contains:

• Hardware IP (general-purpose microprocessor, DSP, I/O subsystem, application-specific logic)
• System software IP (real-time operating system, protocol stacks, application middleware)
• Hardware and software development tools

Most importantly, these IP modules, tools & methodologies are melded to form a complete chip design, including software, which is optimised, verified and certified to relevant standards, and can be manufactured at any foundry by the licensee. By its very nature, a platform is application-specific, and is a basis for providing product/service differentiation via new applications. Try to make a platform that is all things to all people, and you will break some of these criteria (or go out of business in the process). It is not enough to point a customer to a third party software vendor who may provide some of the required software, which needs optimisation, etc. A platform vendor is expected to know the market, and provide customers with a complete, compelling solution, optimised to their needs - as if the supplier was a virtual product division of the customer.

With VCs under great pressure from their limited partners to provide some return, Siroyan should adopt a guerrilla platform strategy to attain a defensible niche.

• Introduction
• Background on Siroyan
• Technology & products
• Market dynamics
• A way forward
• What can Siroyan and fellow entrepreneurs learn from this

Comments on this story? Send an email to Woz Ahmed: woz@thechilli.com

© Chilli Publishing Ltd 2003

05Nov2002