Altair, a global leader in computational intelligence, has officially announced the acquisition of Metrics Design Automation Inc, a company with a game-changing simulation as a service (SaaS) business model for semiconductor electronic functional simulation and design verification. According to certain reports, the development will let Altair access the latter’s Metrics digital simulator called DSim, which once you combine with Altair’s Silicon Debug Tools, will deliver a world-class, advanced simulation environment with superior simulation and debug capabilities in the EDA and semiconductor space. More on the same would reveal how this cloud-based business model has that potential to transform the semiconductor space by making high caliber EDA design tools much more affordable and accessible for companies looking to aggressively scale out simulations and accelerate design cycles. To better understand the significance of such a development, though, we must take into account that, as of today, integrated circuit (IC) design verification suffers immensely from high licensing costs and may also require hundreds and sometimes thousands of seats to run a single chip simulation. Another detail worth a mention is concerned with the way these tools run on desktop machines, and therefore, are not typically cloud-native or cloud-enabled. In response, the Altair and Metrics solution delivers the flexibility to run operations through a desktop app, on your own servers, or in the cloud. Not just that, it can also run very large regressions with the customer paying only for what they use. Further supporting System Verilog and VHDL RTL for digital circuits targeting application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), the solution enables simulations to be run concurrently and at scale, removes massive amounts of time and costs from the traditional design cycle.
“By combining our best-in-class software with Metrics’ cloud-based simulation as a service, we are excited to bring this groundbreaking technology to our EDA and semiconductor customers,” said James R. Scapa, founder and chief executive officer of Altair. “Altair is unique in our ability to merge simulation with industry-leading workload and workflow optimization technology, serving as a true partner for companies embracing innovative tools and resource delivery models in this highly specialized and high-stakes industry. Customers now have a choice in design verification.”
Moving forward, DSim will be available through Altair One, Altair’s cloud innovation gateway, where it will also be available for desktop download. Regardless of its overarching environment, it is going to be fully featured and optimized for speed, capacity, and accuracy, providing semiconductor, automotive, aerospace and defense customers with Altair’s leading digital simulation, visualization, and circuit debug technology. Such an offering should enable these customers to quickly track down design problems and move the most complex devices into production earlier and with a higher degree of confidence.
Making Metrics even more attractive of an acquisition candidate would be the fact that it is led by Joe Costello, who is considered one of the founders of the modern EDA industry. This came after he became President of Cadence Design Systems and drove annual revenues to over $1B.
“We are proud to be first-to-market with our game-changing design verification product and business model for the semiconductor industry,” said Costello. “Joining Altair will allow us to grow and provide an alternative option – whether on desktop, on your own servers, or in the cloud – to engineers looking for a flexible, modern, accurate, and fast design verification solution that is truly scalable.”
