( ESNUG 485 Item 1 ) -------------------------------------------- [06/08/10]
Subject: Rumors on Synfora, Forte, CatapultC, AutoESL, CoWare, Calypto, EVE
Editor's Note: Here's some of the "tips" that have been emailed to
me proceeding DAC. Some may be true; some may be false; some a little
of both; but I'll warn you not to bet the rent on them! - John
From: [ A Little Bird One ]
Hi John,
ESL is definitely the hottest "adjacency" to EDA right now...
Take CoWare: Synopsys first bid $50 M for CoWare, then Cadence entered the
fray. Eventually Synopsys acquired them for $85 M even though Cadence's bid
was higher. Synopsys grabbed the assets of VAST for less than $20 M and let
go of most of VAST's employees. The employees got zilch. At one time VAST
was doing more than $12 M in annual sales but their revenues were declining
rapidly. Cadence did attempt to come in on that deal but missed again.
Intel's WindRiver division acquired Virtutech reportedly upwards of $40 M.
Why Cadence didn't go after them -- especially given their recent EDA360
Marketing -- is a mystrey.
It is no secret that Synopsys has made past attempts to acquire Forte, but
Forte wants to see some real $. Since Forte has burnt through a good amount
of money their investors aren't willing to give-up -- yet. Forte is, of
course, exceptionally strong in Japan so Synopsys would gain an immediate
customer base. Rumor is Synopsys also tried to acquire AutoESL, but those
guys apparently have strong support from Xilinx, seem to have some momentum
so are in no hurry to take low-ball offers.
But Synopsys has a glaring hole in HLS. No synthesis. They have the rest
of the ESL pieces. Luckily for Synopsys as it happens Synfora is running
out of money; their investors refuse to let this become another disaster
like Monterey and want to cut their losses. I hear Synopys has an offer
on the table for Synfora and it is south of $10 M. Synfora has complex
investors as it was spun off from HP Labs many many years ago so the deal
won't be simple as some $ may be owed to HP. Like Forte, Synfora has taken
in close to $30 M in funding, but unlike Forte they have never had enough
revenue or customers to keep it going.
How all these acquisitions fit into Synopsys' strategy of waiting and
acquiring market-leaders, or the best technology, is not clear. Maybe you
were dead-on when you said they were the Microsoft of EDA: take no risk,
don't innovate, buy struggling technology companies on the cheap and just
sit on monopoly legacy products/cash-cows! Of course they had some great
acquisitions in the past with Avanti & EPIC, but since then? They have
dissolved the FPGA division and rolled it into Systems & IP group under
Joachim Kunkel. Many of the key Synplicity technologists/developers have
left. So Synopsys is betting on ASIC and not FPGA as the way to make
money in ESL.
Then there's Calypto. The only start-up with C-to-RTL formal verification
technology and where Mentor is an investor. Mentor's Catapult-C is still
looking for the 'break-out' in revenue and there is a rumor that they are
looking at acquiring Calypto to bulk up. Mentor may also want to lock in
the verification flow -- today Calypto supports multiple HLS Tools but if
Mentor acquires them who knows what may happen? However, much of Calypto's
revenue actually comes from their RTL-Power product and they too have burnt
through a good amount of $ -- so a deal will only be done if the investors
want to move-on, rather than hold-out.
With that backdrop today's annoucement from Cadence makes sense. Rumor is
that Synopsys bid $200 M for Denali hoping to lock in the IP market (they
like being a monopoly). Perhaps Cadence was tired of losing bids, perhaps
they had to make a move in the System/IP space for the whole EDA360 vision
to be realised and prevent Synopsys from executing on Cadence's vision;
whatever the reason they paid up a huge premium to lock it in. Denali was
doing $40 M in sales. One un-answered question is did Sanjay Srivastava
negotiate a "keep-the-Denali-DAC-party" clause?
Things should get mighty interesting at DAC for ESL!
Anon pls.
- [ A Little Bird One ]
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From: [ A Little Bird Two ]
Hi John,
Please keep me anonymous.
It sounds like Synopsys may be back on the acquisition hunt again this time
with Synfora, a small player in the C-synthesis market. From what I hear
it's more of a mercy killing but it may have some role in their CoWare flow.
The acquisition amounts being thrown around range from $500 K to $2 M.
Synfora plays more in the FPGA space and had declared its support for C.
The other synthesis players in the market like Forte and Cadence have
focused primarily on ASIC and have endorsed SystemC. Mentor seems to have
changed their position recently and claimed support for SystemC as well
(though they used to be adamant that SystemC was not needed...)
From my point of view there are two interesting stories going on right now
relating to acquisitions. First there's the IP story with Denali, Vast,
Virtutech, and others. Then there is the "ESL" story with CoWare, Synfora,
and others? Actually Vast and Virtutech were probably both IP and ESL.
It will be interesting to watch this play out. Synopsys, according to their
recent earnings, is still sitting on a bundle (more than $1 B) of cash...
- [ A Little Bird Two ]
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From: [ A Little Bird Three ]
Hi, John,
Heard anything about the Synopsys potential acquisition of EVE?
- [ A Little Bird Three ]
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From: [ A Little Bird Four ]
Hi, John,
Did you hear that Sramana Mitra said in her report that Synopsys is going to
buy Atrenta for $45 million?
- [ A Little Bird Four ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: [ A Little Bird Five ]
Hi, John,
Cadence is in talks with Mentor to buy out their entire Veloce product line.
You should look into this.
- [ A Little Bird Five ]
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Editor's Note: Again, these are some "tips" that have been emailed to
me proceeding DAC. Some may be true; some may be false; some a little
of both; but I'll warn you not to bet the rent on them! - John
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