1991: The Year DAC Changed Forever

[Steve Leibson]

Looking at DAC booths on the show floor always reminds me of the year my perspective on trade show booths changed forever. It was at DAC 1991, held in San Francisco. Cadence waved a magic wand that year and produced a video that set a high-water mark for DAC booths that has never again been achieved, in my opinion. It only cost the company a rumored $250,000 to set this mark.

That year, EDA frameworks to get tools to play nice together were all the rage. Cadence was pushing its framework package, named Amadeus, which it had introduced in September, 1990. At DAC 1991, Cadence’s booth contained a giant (for the time) projection TV system running a video that absolutely blew me away. I stood in place and watched this video five times without moving. The video is a parody of the 1984 film Amadeus.

Many people, even those who've worked for Cadence, have never seen this video. That too blows me away. Seeing this video was a paradigm-shifting event for me—and it still is. It's place at DAC mirrors the place Apple's "1984" TV ad holds in consumer advertising, albeit on a much smaller stage. When it appeared at DAC in 1991, there was no World Wide Web and no video Internet, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the video didn’t go viral back then. In the ensuing 17 years, no one has come close to matching the scope of this video in my opinion, although companies like Denali certain leave their own unique stamp on DAC. So, assuming most of you out in the blogosphere have never seen this video, here it is:


If you can't see the embedded video window, you can go to the Viddler page here.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sleibson/videos/5/

[Steve Leibson]

Dave, from what you say, I'd guess that the video was privately shown in 1990 in a DAC suite or hotel room and moved to the show floor in 1991, when I saw it.

[Dave Kelf]

Steve - I can't believe you still have this Cadence marketing masterpiece, and I am really delighted that you put it out there - well done. With all we hear about EDA these days its good to remember our roots. My first DAC was 1991 and I was one of the lucky AEs who demo'd Amadeus. You should remember Scott - you trained us :-) I am 99% sure that this video was actually shown for the first time at DAC 1990 in Florida, and then reused at DAC 1991.

[Steve Leibson]

Scott, I Googled Cadence Amadeus. Cadence introduced Amadeus in September 1990, which would have been after DAC that year. I still think the video is from 1991. It seems unlkely that the video would have appeared a year before introduction (1989).

[Steve Leibson]

I got the date from the box holding the VHS tape that I digitized when I posted the video to Viddler.

[Scott Sandler]

This is the best DAC video ever -- one of the best pieces of marketing I have ever seen! I still get goosebumps when I watch it.

I think I remember this being from 1989, though. Are you sure about the date?

[Graham Bell]

I too found it on Viddler and uploaded it to the Cadence Video section of EDACafe.com. We have been hosting it for several months now. It has been seen over 250 times. Glad to see someone else is digging it.
+Graham

[David Lin]

I just watched it 4 times. After nearly 20 years, this is still a compelling piece. The production quality is very impressive. Thanks for sharing this, Steve.