Synopsys acquires VaST Systems Technology

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Synopsys Inc. has acquired VaST Systems Technology Corp. to extend its virtual prototyping solutions into the automotive and consumer application space.

The acquisition adds a comprehensive set of processor sub-system models frequently found in automotive and consumer applications to Synopsys' virtual prototyping portfolio. Processor sub-system models allow developers to accelerate the virtualization of electronic systems and to start software development nine to 12 months prior to the availability of silicon.

"In order to meet the stringent development requirements associated with today's growing electronics and software content in automotive and consumer products, developers are virtualizing their electronic sub-systems to start software development earlier, improve their productivity and deliver better-tested, higher quality products," said Joachim Kunkel, senior vice president and general manager of the solutions group at Synopsys.

"By adding VaST's complementary virtual prototyping solutions to Synopsys' existing virtual and rapid prototyping product portfolio, we can deliver a robust system prototyping solution to automotive and consumer application developers."

Virtualization is a key technology to improve software development productivity and system verification. Virtual prototypes enable pre-silicon software development and complement traditional hardware/software verification approaches. They represent one of the fastest-growing opportunities in the system-level design and verification market segment.

The terms of the deal, which closed February 1, are not being disclosed. Synopsys does not expect the transaction to have a material impact on 2010 revenue or earnings per share (EPS).