The primary technological innovation of Solomon Design Automation Systems (SDA Systems) was its design framework architecture, which permitted designers to link software tools from various vendors in a common user interface and database. SDA received start-up financing from National Semiconductor and General Electric and continued to form partnership arrangements with Harris Corporation, L.M. Ericsson, Toshiba and SGS Corp.
In 1984, 33-year-old Joseph B. Costello joined SDA as vice-president of customer service. He held a number of positions, and in March of 1987 became SDA’s president and chief operating officer.
In 1988, ECAD Inc. and SDA Systems Inc. merged to become Cadence Design Systems.
