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Fujitsu Ties Global Partnership with Cadence to Create Advanced SoC Design Environments
Faster Design Turnaround Time for Large-Scale Chips
at 0.13 Micron and Beyond
TOKYO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Aug. 3, 2004—
Fujitsu Limited and Cadence Design Systems, Japan today announced
a global partnership agreement under which they will create advanced
system-on-chip (SoC) design environments. The design environments
resulting from this agreement will further address today's demand for
new design methodologies for the development of advanced SoCs.
Currently there is an urgent need for new design methodologies for
the development of advanced SoCs, particularly for the latest SoC
designs that incorporate process technologies of 90nm (nanometer) and
beyond. The semiconductor industry's rapid product cycles are driven
by constant technological advances and are subject to volatile market
fluctuations. This makes it increasingly difficult to keep pace with
the latest design environment requirements and quickly deploy new
design methodologies to worldwide design facilities.
The Premier Design Partner(*1) agreement that Fujitsu and Cadence
have entered into is anticipated to strengthen Fujitsu's design
approach with shorter design lead times and improved design quality.
This partnership agreement is revolutionary as an EDA (Electronic
Design Automation)(*2)-related agreement, as it provides design
solutions that go beyond a simple sales agreement for EDA tools.
Highlights of the agreement are as below:
-- The agreement encompasses tens of thousands of Cadence
licenses, including numerous SoC Encounter(TM) licenses.
-- The worldwide Fujitsu Group and all of its design centers will
have access to licenses covered by this agreement.
-- In addition to its standard support, Cadence will provide
personnel support organizationally to the worldwide Fujitsu
Group and its design centers in order to fully leverage this
agreement.
-- As strategic business partners, Fujitsu and Cadence will
jointly develop methodologies that merge design and process
technologies, and plan to expand their global business
collaboration to markets such as in the U.S. and China.
Under this agreement, Fujitsu will deploy to all of its design
centers the combination of a variety of licenses and a new design
methodology known as physical prototyping (also referred to as silicon
virtual prototyping)(*3) for SoC development for 0.13 micron
technology and beyond. Using the world's highest-standard design
environments will minimize design iterations, which can be a major
obstacle for meeting delivery deadlines, and will significantly
shorten design lead times. This approach is also highly effective for
reducing die size and noise, and lowering power consumption.
These advantages make it possible for Fujitsu to finalize and fix
SoC design schedules, which are of particular importance to customers,
and also contribute greatly to the finalization of customers' tight
product development schedules.
As a SoC design technology partner that goes beyond being a
conventional EDA supplier, Cadence will support Fujitsu's SoC business
by establishing an internal organization dedicated to provide
centralized support to Fujitsu's design centers worldwide.
Shigeru Fujii, Senior Corporate Vice President and Group President
of Fujitsu Limited's LSI Business Group said, "For the latest
technology, while LSI functions continue to grow in complexity and
become larger in scale, and design and development become increasingly
difficult, there is a great need for shortening development lead
times. In order to overcome these issues, Fujitsu is implementing a
new IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) business model in which we
establish strategic partnerships with customers and vendors. This
agreement with Cadence is a facet of this new IDM business model. We
will help our customers increase their product competitiveness by
updating our development environments to the world's highest
standards."
General Manager of Fujitsu Limited's Design Methodology
Development Division, LSI Group, Kazuyuki Kawauchi states, "Under this
agreement with Cadence, all of our design centers and the Fujitsu
Group worldwide will be equipped with abundant EDA tools as well as
new design methodologies to fully leverage them. It is now possible to
overcome and resolve the issue of design iterations, the most
challenging issue for developing large-scale SoCs using 0.13 micron
technology and beyond, thus enabling us to dramatically raise the
certainty of design schedules. Now that this agreement is in place, I
strongly believe that the days when our design environments were
limited by the number of tools available will be a thing of the past."
"Cadence will support Fujitsu's SoC business with a complete
solution ranging from upper-stream to lower-stream designs,
implementation, verification and manufacturing," said Ryoichi
Kawashima, President of Cadence Design Systems, Japan. "This
innovative agreement is unique in its large-scale, comprehensive,
enterprise-level approach -- the likes of which no other EDA company
has ever offered. We are committed to support Fujitsu in all of its
many design centers worldwide."
Glossary and Notes
*1. Cadence's "Premier Design Partner" agreements:
The Premier Design Partner Agreement expands the customer
relationship beyond tools to include complete business solutions to
customers. It includes establishing business models that directly
contribute to customers' business success by helping reduce their
total cost of ownership, minimizing design risks and optimizing the
design chain.
*2. EDA (Electronic Design Automation):
Technology that automates the design of various electronic
systems, and the semiconductors and printed circuit boards that such
systems are comprised of.
*3. Physical prototyping:
A SoC design methodology that detects problems and implements
measures to address those issues, prior to circuitry layout. This
approach enables minimizing the need for design iterations, which with
conventional design methods could take more than several months. This
methodology also makes it possible to reduce design processes, improve
level of certainty of estimated design lead times, and enables early
determination of best conditions in regard to power consumption and
chip size. Cadence's SoC Encounter (TM) facilitates physical
prototyping.
About Fujitsu
Fujitsu is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and
communications solutions for the global marketplace. Pace-setting
technologies, highly reliable computing and communications platforms,
and a worldwide corps of systems and services experts uniquely
position Fujitsu to deliver comprehensive solutions that open up
infinite possibilities for its customers' success. Headquartered in
Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of
4.7 trillion yen (US$45 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31,
2004. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com
About Cadence Design Systems, Japan
Cadence Design Systems (Japan) B.V. is a subsidiary of Cadence
Design Systems, Inc. which with approximately 4,800 employees and 2003
revenues of approximately $1.1 billion is the largest supplier of
electronic design technologies and engineering services. Cadence
solutions are used to accelerate and manage the design of
semiconductors, computer systems, networking and telecommunications
equipments, consumer electronics, and a variety of other
electronics-based products. Cadence Design Systems (Japan) B.V. is
located in Shin-Yokohama and provides electronics design automation
(EDA) solutions to serve the electronics market and its customers' in
Japan. More information about the company, its products and services
is available at http://www.cadence.co.jp.
SoC Encounter(TM) is a trademark of Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
All other product names and company names mentioned herein are the
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective firms.
Contact:
Cadence Design Systems, Japan
Customer & Press:
Sumiko Hirasawa, +81-45-475-2311
Corporate Marketing Dept
hirasawa@cadence.com
or
Fujitsu Limited
Fujitsu Press Contact:
Amy Ishida
Public and Investor Relations
Inquiries:
http://pr.fujitsu.com/en/news/pressinquiries.html
or
ASIC & Platform Technology Marketing Department
Fujitsu Customer Contact:
Kazuyuki Inoue
Marketing & Business Development Div.
Marketing and Sales Group
asicmarketing@sales.ed.fujitsu.co.jp
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