Synopsys buy a step toward embedded software development

By Dylan McGrath and Richard Goering, EE Times
May 17 2006 (20:56 PM)

SAN FRANCISCO — One day after Synopsys Inc. announced the $15 million acquisition of virtual platform vendor Virtio Corp., executives sought to play it as a nod toward the converging worlds of hardware and software development.

A $15 million acquisition is not large for Synopsys, but the implications of the Virtio acquisition could be significant. "It's a small announcement, but it has the potential to be very important as we move into the embedded software area," said Aart de Geus, chairman and CEO of Synopsys. The acquisition, he said, is "a very elegant way of touching the embedded software developers."

According to Guri Stark, vice president of marketing for Synopsys' solutions group, the acqusition was prompted by Synopsys customers, which have been imploring the company to provide solutions that enable them to develop software earlier in the system development process.

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