BusinessWire -- Mar 14, 2007
Pyxis Technology Promotes New President and CEO and VP of Engineering
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 14, 2007 -- Pyxis Technology, the DFM (design
for manufacturability) routing company, announced today the promotion of
Joe Hutt, an industry veteran with 25 years of experience in electronic
design automation (EDA) and DFM, to president and CEO. Hutt, an early
investor in the company, was on the company’s board of directors
until July 2006, when he became vice president of engineering. His promotion
reflects the company’s continuing focus on technology as it
transitions from product development mode to product delivery mode.
"Even before he joined Pyxis, Joe was deeply involved with our board
and fundraising activities. He has been directing Pyxis’ technology
strategy since 2006, and he and I have worked together for years, so this
is an easy transition for the development team," said company founder
and CTO, P.T. Patel. "The market is beginning to realize the value of
DFM tools. We look forward to having Joe’s expertise behind the
introduction of a next-generation router that can address yield and
manufacturability issues during physical design implementation."
Joe Hutt has built and managed R&D teams and technical sales for some
of the most successful companies in EDA. Most recently, he served as vice
president of technical sales for Magma Design Automation Inc., after a
three-year tenure as vice president of engineering. Prior to Magma, Hutt
was in charge of the Advanced Technology Group at Synopsys, Inc., where
he managed the Synopsys research organization. Before Synopsys, he was
the program director and senior project manager for VLSI Design systems
at IBM, working on advanced routing technology throughout his early career.
Hutt graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering
from Union College in New York in 1975.
"Pyxis’ technology is focused on the problems posed by the
development of 45nm and 32nm technologies", said Joe Hutt. "The
movement of manufacturing yield design requirements into the chip design
space requires routing technology that has core algorithms able to handle
both design complexity and the increase in data size. Pyxis’ routing
technology is architected to have the flexibility to respond to both
complexity and size in a very timely manner, and I look forward to bringing
that technology to market."
Jim Solomon, 1997 Phil Kaufman award winner and founding member of Pyxis
board of directors had this to say about Pyxis: "I have worked with Pyxis
since it was founded. They have one of the finest technology development
teams I have ever worked with. There is no question that the Pyxis DFM
router is the most advanced available for the 45nm and below technology
nodes."
Pyxis also announced that Mitch Heins, who has held senior management
positions in the semiconductor and EDA industries for over 22 years, will
move from vice president of business development to vice president of
engineering. Prior to joining Pyxis, Heins was senior director of silicon
operations and products for HPL Technologies, Inc., running the engineering
organization and responsible for all business activities of HPL’s test
chip division. He also has served in senior management positions at Petersen
Advanced Lithography, Cadence Design Systems (focused on DFM; working with
fabs and equipment manufacturers), Ambit Design Systems and CAD Framework
Initiative (later renamed Silicon Integration Initiative). From 1983 to 1995,
he worked in various positions at Texas Instruments, managing both engineering
groups and EDA strategy and business development. Heins’ involvement with
a number of new product launches will complement the technical strength of
Pyxis’ engineering team.
Naeem Zafar, Pyxis’ president and CEO from May 2005 until this month, has
left the company to pursue a long-term interest in entrepreneurial development.
He has joined Altair Ventures, an entry-level, high-technology investment and
consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs shape their ideas into profitable companies.
