Agilent, Cadence pool technologies for RF/mixed-signal IC development

Agilent, Cadence pool technologies for RF/mixed-signal IC development
By Semiconductor Business News
February 14, 2002 (10:35 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020214S0013

PALO ALTO, Calif.-- Agilent Technologies Inc. and Cadence Design Systems Inc. today announced a "far-reaching" alliance to combine their technologies to accelerate development and testing of next-generation ICs for wireless and wireline communications systems.

In the first phase of the partnership, Agilent and Cadence said they will jointly develop a "more integrated design flow" for large-scale RF/mixed-signal integrated circuits used in wireless appliances and high-speed networking equipment. The aim is to dramatically reduce the time it takes to develop complex radio-frequency and mixed-signal ICs.

The two companies said they have initiated co-development of an integrated design flow involving the Cadence Analog Design Environment and Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS) software to improve interactivity. The Cadence Analog Design Environment is a front-to-back analog design solution for full-custom analog and RF chip design. Agilent's ADS is electronic design software for communications product design.

The first jointly-developed design solutions are expected to become available in the second half of 2002.

In the future, Palo Alto-based Agilent and Cadence in San Jose said they plan to expand their efforts to incorporate additional electronic design, verification, and test technologies from both companies. The result, they predicted, will be a complete systems-to-IC design implementation solution.

"This is the beginning of an alliance with Agilent," stated Ray Bingham, president and CEO of Cadence in San Jose. He added that, "By pooling the expertise and resources of two industry leaders, we can deliver even greater value to our mutual customers."