Synopsys and Achronix announce multi-year renewal of synthesis partnership

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Synopsys Inc. and Achronix Semiconductor, builder of high density and ultra-fast field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), have announced a multi-year extension of their OEM agreement for Synopsys FPGA synthesis tools.

The agreement continues to make Synopsys' FPGA logic synthesis technology available to Achronix customers by expanding support of Synopsys' Synplify Pro software to Achronix's latest generation of FPGAs, the 22 nanometer Speedster22i FPGA platform. Achronix intends to deliver a Speedster22i FPGA-optimized version of Synplify Pro FPGA synthesis software to its customers as part of its Achronix CAD Environment (ACE) software package, to provide designers of these devices with high performance synthesis technology.

"Our ability to deliver the world's most advanced FPGAs built on Intel's 22 nanometer process technology depends on having best-in-class development tools," said Yousef Khalilollahi, VP of marketing at Achronix. "With Synopsys' Synplify Pro synthesis tool as part of our ACE software development platform, we provide designers an optimized solution for taking maximum advantage of our FPGAs."

The version of Synplify Pro software optimized for Achronix FPGAs contains all the features of the standard version and continues to support the original Speedster family of FPGAs. It is customized to support the innovative technologies of the Speedster22i Platform. Synplify Pro software allows FPGA designers to achieve aggressive timing goals more quickly than alternative tools due to its unique timing-driven approach to FPGA synthesis.

In addition to new optimizations that take advantage of the advanced memory architecture in Speedster22i FPGAs, Synplify Pro software has also been customized with multi-processing for faster turnaround time for these higher capacity devices.

"Achronix provides FPGA solutions targeting high-density and high-performance applications, so it's a natural choice to match their silicon with synthesis tools designed to reach maximum clock speeds," said John Koeter, VP of marketing for Solutions Group at Synopsys. "We have been working closely with Achronix to customize our Synplify Pro synthesis software to capitalize on the features of their new Speedster22i FPGAs. We believe that through this close collaboration, we offer our mutual customers the best environment for producing highly optimized, cost-effective FPGAs."

The beta version of the Achronix CAD Environment (ACE) with Synplify Pro software supporting Speedster22i is available now, with general availability anticipated in December 2011. Synplify Pro software support for Achronix Speedster devices is available now. All Synplify Pro software optimized for Achronix FPGAs is available directly from Achronix Semiconductor as part of the Achronix CAD Environment (ACE) software package.