CIE Components in Electronics
ARM and Synopsys have signed a multi-year agreement that expands Synopsys’ access to a broad range of ARM intellectual property (IP). The two companies will broaden their collaboration to enable SoC designers to optimise the power and performance of ARM technology based SoCs using Synopsys’ Galaxy Implementation Platform and Discovery VIP, while looking to reduce both cost and time to market.
Building on previous EDA tools and ARM Cortex-A15 processor license agreements, this new agreement will provide Synopsys with access to a range of Cortex processors, including technology needed to implement ARM big.LITTLE processing, ARM Artisan physical IP, POP technology optimised for Cortex processor implementation, as well as CoreLink interconnect and AMBA 4 ACE system IP.
By expanding their collaboration to include the latest ARM technology, Synopsys will be able to create and deliver optimised tools and methodologies for the implementation and verification of ARM processing subsystems, and ARM will be able to enhance its IP. The ongoing partnership aims to meet demand from designers for SoCs that feature both extreme energy efficiency and high performance.
“In today’s increasingly competitive market environment, optimised solutions from two industry leaders can make a big difference for our partners designing ARM technology based SoCs by accelerating the design process and driving gains in power and performance,” said Simon Segars, executive vice president and general manager, Processor and Physical IP Divisions at ARM. “By providing Synopsys with wider access to industry-leading ARM IP, we are enabling mutual customers to benefit from streamlined design and verification, ultimately, decreasing time to market.”
Combining ARM and Synopsys expertise, the optimised implementation flows will use Synopsys Galaxy tools and methodologies as well as ARM Artisan physical IP and POP solutions to enable designers to produce Cortex-A9, Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processor based designs faster and with improved performance and power results. This solution is complemented by Synopsys’ Virtualizer Design Kit (VDK) for ARM big.LITTLE processing, as well as by Synopsys’ Discovery Verification IP and Protocol Analyzer for the AMBA 4 ACE specification.
In addition to using the ARM processor optimised methodologies with Synopsys” Galaxy tools, designers can also use Synopsys” Lynx Design System for additional productivity and predictability through a tapeout validated, Soc level implementation flow. Synopsys provides optimised processor implementation training and design assistance to help customers achieve their target performance and power in their chosen semiconductor process technology. Synopsys will also optimise the Discovery Verification Platform for ARM IP. Discovery VIP and Protocol Analyzer integrate additional tests, system monitor checks and other features to accelerate verification of AMBA 4 ACE interconnect based designs.
“Synopsys tools are used in a significant portion of leading edge implementations of ARM processor based SoCs, and our customers are pushing for extreme performance and power efficiency,” said Deirdre Hanford, senior vice president, global technical services at Synopsys. “This expanded collaboration enables Synopsys and ARM to deliver the optimised solutions that SoC designers need to meet the power and performance requirements for their ARM powered designs.”
