Mentor Wins v Synopsys

Mentor Wins v Synopsys
by Paul McLellan on 10-15-2014 at 10:00 am

Just a couple of days ago I read a curious press release.Mentor Graphics Corp. (NASDAQ: MENT), today announced that a Portland, Oregon jury delivered a verdict in favor of Mentor in a trial in which Mentor asserted infringement of one of its patents against Emulation and Verification Engineering S.A. (EVE) and Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:Read More


Designing SmartCar ICs

Designing SmartCar ICs
by Daniel Payne on 09-30-2014 at 7:00 am

When I upgraded cars from a 1988 to 1998 Acura it seemed like my car had become much smarter with a security chip in the key, security codes in the radio and a connector for computer diagnosis, however in today’s modern auto there’s a lot more mixed-signal design content. Micronasand Synopsysgot together and hosted … Read More


Explaining HAPS-DX in an elevator

Explaining HAPS-DX in an elevator
by Don Dingee on 09-24-2014 at 7:00 am

Every development team has been through this challenge: finding a tool that looks fantastic, then heading off to the manager one or two levels up who has enough signature authority for the purchase order. Signatures for amounts reading more than a couple of trailing zeros on POs are rarely free, or painless. … Read More


AMD Design IP Deal with Virage Logic… Oops… Synopsys

AMD Design IP Deal with Virage Logic… Oops… Synopsys
by Eric Esteve on 09-23-2014 at 9:59 am

Whoever has said that history never repeats itself should read this recent PR from AMD! The news can be summarized in three points:

  • Multi-year agreement gives AMD access to a range of Synopsys design IP including interface, memory compiler, logic library and analog IP for advanced FinFET process nodes
  • Synopsys acquires rights
Read More

Design & EDA Collaboration Advances Mixed-Signal Verification through VCS AMS

Design & EDA Collaboration Advances Mixed-Signal Verification through VCS AMS
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-07-2014 at 8:00 pm

Last week it was a rare opportunity for me to attend a webinar where an SoC design house, a leading IP provider and a leading EDA tool provider joined together to present on how the tool capabilities are being used for advanced mixed-signal simulation of large designs, faster with accuracy. It’s always been a struggle to combine design… Read More


Synopsys VC VIP for Memory

Synopsys VC VIP for Memory
by Paul McLellan on 09-04-2014 at 7:01 am

Synopsys have been gradually broadening their portfolio of verification IP (VIP). It is 100% native SystemVerilog with native debug using Verdi (that was acquired from SpringSoft last year, now fully integrated into Verification Compiler). It has native performance with VCS. Going forward there are source code test suites.… Read More


FinFETs for your Next SoC

FinFETs for your Next SoC
by Daniel Payne on 08-24-2014 at 7:00 am

Planar CMOS processes have been offered for decades now, and all the way down through the 28nm node it has been riding the benefits of Moore’s Law. A few years back we started hearing from Intel about TriGate (aka FinFET) starting at the 22nm node as a way to use a more 3D processing approach for transistors instead of planar CMOS.… Read More


Synopsys Earnings

Synopsys Earnings
by Paul McLellan on 08-21-2014 at 12:00 pm

The perfect quarterly results are to slightly beat the consensus for earnings and profit, and not say anything negative about guidance for the upcoming quarter. Synopsys delivered all that with their latest quarter yesterday. Revenue was $521M versus $483M last year, giving solid growth of over 8%. Non-GAAP earnings per share… Read More


USB 3.0 IP on FinFET may stop port pinching

USB 3.0 IP on FinFET may stop port pinching
by Don Dingee on 08-19-2014 at 5:00 pm

Sometimes a standard is a victim of its own success, at least for a while as the economics catch up to the technology. When a standard like USB 3.0 is announced, with a substantial performance increase over USB 2.0, some of the use cases come on board right away. Others, where vendors enjoy a decent ROI with good-enough performance,… Read More


Transaction-based Emulation

Transaction-based Emulation
by Paul McLellan on 08-14-2014 at 7:01 am

Verification has been going through a lot of changes in the last couple of years. Three technologies that used to be largely contained in their own silos have come together: simulation, emulation and virtual-platforms.

Until recently, the workhorse verification tool was simulation. Emulation had its place but limits on capacity… Read More