About Us

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CAST develops, sells, and supports digital Silicon IP Cores for ASICs or FPGAs. Electronic system designers use these to shorten development time and lower production risk. 

CAST was founded in 1993 and has always focused on reusable IP cores. We have helped thousands of companies worldwide gain a competitive edge, and they have built our IP into billions of shipping product units. One-third of our sales are to repeat customers.

CAST uniquely gives system designers the CAST IP Experience:

CAST has ISO 9001:2015 Certification form PRI
  • Excellent IP products, developed by our engineers or close partners who excel in their application domains;
  • Unmatched technical support before and after each sale from a highly experienced IP sales and engineering team, including the actual IP developers; and
  • Flexible licensing to fit each project's requirements.

Read more about our company and products below, review the technical datasheets available on every product, and contact us to discuss how IP from CAST can shorten your development cycle while improving your end products. 

  /pdfs/cast-brochure.pdf

Download a product list.(A4)

IP from CAST ranges from leading-edge technology through traditional and standards-based functions. 

This digital IP is available in synthesizable RTL for ASICs or netlists targeting popular FPGAs and structured ASICs.  

As organized in the navigation menus above, our IP includes Microcontrollers and Processors; data, video, and image Compression; standards-based Interfaces; popular Peripherals; and system Security and encryption primitives.

Highlights include:

Every product is developed using best-practice coding conventions and subjected to rigorous verification for quality and standards conformity; most are production-proven multiple times. 

Easy integration is built-in, and deliverables include complete documentation and other aids to reuse that we have refined over 25 years. Evaluation boards, pre-integrated subsystems, and verification IP are available for many cores.

Get an overview in the presentation below, or jump into the technical datasheets and other information freely available throughout our website. When you're ready, we're prepared to help you find the optimum IP for your particular project's goals and requirements. 

 

Part of the CAST IP cores development, is[port, and sales team

Lower your system design risk with IP from one of the most experienced teams in the world.

Our core team of IP expert employees in engineering, sales, and support is located in multiple sites in the US and Europe (see the Contacts & Sales Offices page).

Our extended IP team includes long-term partnerships with some of the best IP developers in Europe and Australia, as well as local sales reps in Asia and other markets (see the Partners tab).

CAST’s management and leadership staff includes the following EDA, ASIC/FPGA Design, and IP executives, all of whom helped create and shape the IP industry as it is known today.


 

Hal Barbour
Chairman of the Board

Hal Barbour is the current Chairman and former CEO of CAST. He joined in 1999, with the merger of the firm he previously cofounded, Lineage Systems, with CAST.

Hal earned a BSEE and worked several years as a circuit designer. He then moved on to technical sales and marketing positions with GenRad, Intergraph, HHB Systems, and Racal-Redac.

Witnessing both stunning successes and colossal managerial failures, Hal has applied those lessons to leading IP industry pioneer CAST. Pioneering a successful global organization model and using a lean, customer-oriented operations philosophy, Hal has helped CAST succeed and thrive in a volatile and challenging IP market.

Dr. Nikos Zervas
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Nikos Zervas is the CEO of CAST. He joined the company in 2010, and previously served as VP of Marketing and Engineering and as COO.

Prior to working at CAST, Nikos co-founded Alma Technologies and served as its Chairman and CEO for nine years. Under his leadership Alma Technologies bootstrapped to become a reputable IP provider, developing cutting-edge image and video compression cores and solutions. 

Nikos received a BA and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece, in 1997 and 2003 respectively. His research has been published in over 40 technical journal and conference papers, and he has been honored by the IEEE Computer Society with a Low-Power Design Contest award. 

Nikos served on the board of the Hellenic Semiconductor Industry Association from 2009 until 2013, where he was responsible for strategic planning.

 

Bill Finch
Senior Vice President

Bill Finch joined CAST in 2001 and serves as a senior vice president.

Bill's diverse experience areas include microprocessor test, superconductivity research, semiconductor metrology tools, and defect analysis for the flat panel and semiconductor industries.

Since joining CAST, Bill has helped manage MCU/MPU products and contributed innovative product ideas and new licensing practices to the evolving IP industry.

With a BSEE from Purdue University, Mr. Finch has held engineering and executive positions with GenRad, Inc., Boreas, Inc., SemiTest, Inc., the Brown and Sharp Manufacturing Company, and others.

Newton Abdalla
Vice President of Operations

Newton is a founding partner and VP of Operations for CAST,, where he handles a variety of managerial and sales functions.

He previously served as Senior Applications Engineer in Tokyo, Japan for HHB Systems. Later he was Manager of New Business Development for Racal-Redac in New Jersey.

Newton holds a M.S.E.E. from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he was a member of the electrical engineering faculty.

Meredith Lucky
Vice President of Sales

Meredith Lucky joined CAST in 2006, and is the company's VP of Sales.

An electrical engineer having worked on the Sirius Satellite Radio receiver, she has supported fellow engineers for over two decades with electronic design tools and IP products in the roles of European Technical Director, Product Marketing Manager, Semiconductor Partner Director and VP of Sales. Her previous companies include Lucent, Viewlogic, and Intergraph.

Meredith currently specializes in video, image and data compression technologies across diverse market segments.  Meredith studied at Lehigh University and the University of Pennsylvania, there earning a Masters in EE.

Tony Sousek
Director, CAST Europe

Tony Sousek joined CAST in 2001 and is the director of the company’s engineering facility in Brno, Czech Republic.

Tony has worked on medical, satellite, security and other systems for several firms in the Czech Republic, and has done design engineering for interfaces and other IP for CAST.

Tony holds an MSEE from the Technical University of Brno.

 

We develop long-term partnerships with excellent firms around the world to bring you the very best products and services.

 


IP Technology Partners


Semiconductor Providers


Industry Associations and Portals


VIP, EDA, and System Development Partners


Sales & Support Partners

Experienced system designers know that superb technical support is a critical factor in choosing an IP supplier. With our CAST Customer Care approach, we strive to be the best in the industry in every aspect of pre- and post-sale support: 

  • We head off typical customer issues with comprehensive documentation, timing diagrams, scripts, and other support aids refined over our quarter-century of delivering reusable IP.
  • Our goal is to respond to every customer question or problem with a useful answer within 24 hours. 
  • We answer questions on the design and functioning of our cores, plus how to best use them with various tools, integrate them in a variety of systems, and deal with application issues sometimes beyond the core itself.
  • We have one of the most experienced, most effective Support teams in the IP business, from an all-engineer sales force to the actual developers of every core and subsystem.

In short, our Customer Care support program helps every potential customer choose the optimum IP to start, then helps every customer succeed with their particular design project.

Once you are a CAST customer, you get free phone and email support for 30 days, starting with the first interaction. (Most customers purchase a cost-effective Annual Maintenance plan, extending IP core support for twelve months.) 

Every customer under active support can receive any bug fix or feature enhancement update for their licensed IP. 

We don't offer IP design services, but can contract to integrate multiple CAST cores or provide application or systems integration support well beyond our specific IP.
 

Let's talk about your project and our IP solutions

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