Contrarily to a common belief, the world is not going digital! Analog and mixed-signal electronics is more and more important and yet pervasive. This is due both to the increasing systems integration, by nature leading to heterogeneity, and to the complex, digital computing functions being complemented by scores of on-chip analog functions, interfacing/interacting with people, environment, and other systems. Specialty silicon foundries are now stable members of top ten revenue rankings. This technology trend demands for more design automation in both implementation and verification domains. Lossless interfaces between digital and analog design environments, multi-technology support, mixed-signal simulation engines -- but also debugging aids -- are no longer a nice to have. According to IBS [1], the cost of implementing and verifying the mixed-signal functions is generally over 50% of the design costs even though the mixed-signal transistors can be as low as 3% of the total! What are the critical requirement, moving forward, and what is EDA industry doing to serve the needs of this increasingly important semiconductor industry segment?

Crossroads have always been challenging: they require a decision; in Egyptian and Greek mythology they were often guarded by two sphinxes trying to cheat the traveler with their riddles. The two sphinxes, the knight and the knave, the lady and the tiger, are just few instances of difficult puzzles that have kept logicians and mathematicians busy for the last 5,000 years. Today, you are walking down Moore's Law road when you come to a crossroads: one road brings you into the land of emerging technologies: 14, 10 and 7 nanometer, FDSOI, FinFET, 3D-IC,... beyond and below; the other road holds you into the land of established technologies: 28, 40, 65, and 90 nanometers, possibly even above, A&M/S, MEMS,... Choosing the right road is critical to lead your project and your company to success, but making the right decision is increasingly difficult, as it encompasses complex technical and economic considerations. However, unlike the mythological traveler, you won't run into the sphinxes but, rather, into some of our industry best experts; unlike the sphinxes, they will strive to provide you with honest advice about the "road conditions", and you are allowed to ask multiple questions to them to figure out which road is the best for you.