Synopsys
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Synopsys, Inc. | |
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters |  Mountain View, California |
| Key people | Aart J. de Geus, CEO/Chairman Chi-Foon Chan , President/COO |
| Industry | Software & Programming |
| Revenue |  $991.93 million USD (2005) |
| Net income |  $15.48 million USD (2005) |
| Employees | 4,756 (2005) |
| Website | www.synopsys.com |
Synopsys, Inc. NASDAQ: SNPS is one of the three largest competitors in the electronic design automation industry.
Synopsys' most well-known (and first) product is Design Compiler. Synopsys offers a wide range of other products used in the design of an application-specific integrated circuit. Products include logic synthesis, behavioral synthesis, place and route, static timing analysis, formal verification and Verilog and VHDL simulators. The simulators include a debugging environment which assists in the design of the logic for chips and computer systems.
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[edit] History
The company was founded in 1986 as Optimal Solutions by Dr. Aart J. de Geus and a team of engineers from General Electric's Microelectronics Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Since then it went through a series of acquisitions.
The company has more than 60 sales, support and R&D offices worldwide in North America, Europe, Japan, the Pacific Rim, Israel and Chile.
Synopsys opened its first office in India in 1995.
As of 2005, Synopsys' major competitors are Cadence Design Systems, Mentor Graphics, and Magma Design Automation. Synopsys is currently involved in patent litigation with Magma Design Automation.
[edit] Acquisitions, mergers, spinoffs
- 1997: acquired EPIC Design Technology Inc., USA
- 1997: acquired Viewlogic Systems, Inc., USA
- June 6, 2002: merger with Avanti Corporation, USA. Avanti was founded when several ex-Cadence employees bought the startup ArcSys. Avanti merged with ISS gaining Hercules its DRC/LVC tool, bought Compass' place and route tool; reworked it to create Saturn and Apollo II and also bought TMA which brought their pioneering TCAD and Proteus Optical proximity correction tools. [1] This was, by far, Synopsys' most significant and controversial acquisition. At the time Avanti was the #4 company in the EDA industry, and was struggling with a major lawsuit from Cadence for software theft. The criminal case had just concluded, with Avanti executives pleading no contest to trade-secret theft, conspiracy to commit trade-secret theft, receiving stolen property, and securities fraud, and several receiving jail time. To acquire Avanti, Synopsys paid about $55 million in golden handshake[2] and poison pill[3] payments to these same executives. Synopsys then paid an additional $265 million to Cadence to settle the remaining civil suit.
- March 3, 2003: acquired Numerical Technologies, Inc. USA. (Note: a pioneer in design for manufacturing software which included CATS mask fracturing.). Synopsys paid about $250M in cash.
- February 23, 2004: acquired Accelerant Networks, USA
- February 26, 2004: acquired technology assets of Analog Design Automation, Inc., USA
- October 2004: acquired assets of Monterey Design Systems, Inc., USA
- October 18, 2004: acquired Cascade Semiconductor Solutions Inc., USA
- November 2, 2004: acquired Integrated Systems Engineering AG (ISE), Switzerland, a TCAD company.
- November 2, 2004: acquired assets of LEDA Design, Inc., USA, a developer of mixed-signal intellectual property.
- December 1, 2004: agreement to acquire Nassda Corp., USA, an integrated circuit simulator company and settle the litigation between the two companies
- December 7, 2005: Acquired HPL Technologies [4], a semiconductor analysis software manufacturer that makes software specializing in wafer design analysis and yield enhancement for wafer process.
- May 16, 2006, announced expanding its presence in electronic system level (ESL) design by acquiring Virtio Corporation, creator of virtual platforms for embedded software development
- June 21, 2006: Santiago Chile, Synopsys R&D Center Chile Opening.
- August 16, 2006: Acquired Sigma-C [5] a Munich based lithography simulation company.
[edit] Management Team
- Dr. Aart J. de Geus, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
- Dr. Chi-Foon Chan, President and Chief Operating Officer
- Dr. Raul Camposano, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and General Manager, Silicon Engineering Group
- Brian Beattie, Chief Financial Officer
- Joe Logan, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
- John Chilton, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Marketing and Strategic Development
- Jan Collinson, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities
- Dr. Antun Domic, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Implementation Group
- Manoj Gandhi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Verification Group
- Deirdre Hanford, Senior Vice President, Global Technology Services
- Brian Cabrera, Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
[edit] Notable persons
- Aart J. de Geus, founder
- Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, co-founder.
