Synopsys Buys VaST Systems
Acquisition expands role in software virtual prototyping.
By Ed Sperling
Synopsys bought VaST Systems today for an undisclosed amount of money, boosting its reach in the software prototyping market while simultaneously eliminating one of its top competitors.
The market for software prototyping has been taking on increasing importance since 65nm. Chipmakers are being forced to develop an increasing amount of software with their SoCs, while at the same time facing increasing complexity and reduced time to market. By allowing software engineers to test the software much earlier in the design flow, using a prototype of the chip, a significant amount of time can be eliminated from the design process.
This is Synopsys’ second major acquisition in the software prototyping market. The company bought Virtio in 2006 in its first foray into the embedded software prototyping market. The VaST deal extends Synopsys’ reach into the automotive and consumer markets.
While Synopsys did report the terms of the deal, that alone is an indication that it’s tough to develop standalone tools in this space. The price of developing tools at the front end of Moore’s Law is extremely expensive to begin with, and the ability to integrate them with other pieces of the flow is a requirement. In that regard, all of the big EDA vendors have a major advantage.
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