An EDA Focused Deal By Altair Acquires Metrics

The Canadian company Metrics Design Automation Inc. (Metrics), which has a revolutionary simulation as a service (SaaS) business model for semiconductor electronic functional simulation and design verification, has entered into a definitive agreement with Altair. Under the agreement, Altair is to purchase all of its outstanding capital stock. The transaction’s closure is contingent on customary conditions.

When paired with Altair’s Silicon Debug Tools, the Metrics digital simulator, DSim, will provide an exceptional, cutting-edge simulation environment with better simulation and debug capabilities in the EDA and semiconductor area.

Because cloud-based business models enable corporations to aggressively scale up simulations to shorten design cycles, they also make high-caliber EDA design tools much more inexpensive and accessible. This has the potential to completely change the semiconductor industry.

Integrated circuit (IC) design verification is becoming more and more expensive. To perform a single chip simulation, hundreds or even thousands of seats may be needed. Furthermore, most of these products are neither cloud-native or cloud-enabled; instead, they operate on desktop computers.

The Altair & Metrics solution offers the ability to conduct very large regressions with the client only paying for what they use, and it can be used as a desktop application, on your own servers, or in the cloud. For digital circuits aimed for application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), it supports System Verilog and VHDL RTL. This makes it possible to perform simulations at scale and continuously, which drastically reduces the time and expense associated with 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, 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.”

Altair’s cloud innovation gateway, Altair One, will provide DSim for desktop download. With Altair’s industry-leading digital simulation, visualization, and circuit debug technology, semiconductor, automotive, aerospace, and defense customers can use DSim, which is fully featured and optimized for speed, capacity, and accuracy, on their own servers, in the cloud, or on their desktop. This allows them to identify design flaws quickly and confidently put the most complex devices into production sooner.

“We are proud to be first-to-market with our game-changing design verification product and business model for the semiconductor industry,” said Joe Costello, executive chairman, Metrics. “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.”

Joe Costello, who became President of Cadence Design Systems and propelled yearly revenues to over $1 billion, is regarded as one of the pioneers of the current EDA business. The Electronic System Design Alliance presented him with the 2004 Phil Kaufman Award in appreciation of his commercial achievements that aided in the expansion of the EDA sector.