Mentor buys BDA for AMS portfolio

Mentor Graphics has bought Berkeley Design Automation (BDA), a specialist in analog, mixed-signal, and RF circuit verification with a platform based on a FastSpice simulation engine.

“BDA has built an outstanding reputation helping nanometer-scale analog, mixed-signal, and RF design teams rigorously verify and characterize leading-edge circuits,” said Ravi Subramanian, president and CEO of Berkeley Design Automation. “With Mentor’s outstanding market reach and our combined technology portfolio, we look forward to providing world-class solutions to the entire AMS design community.”

Robert Hum, vice president and general manager of the DSM division at Mentor, said: “Tight integration between best-in-class tools, strong foundry partnerships, and impeccable engineering work were the criteria used in our decision to acquire BDA. When complex analog and mixed-signal circuits are designed for nanometer geometries, the verification tools must have the capacity, capability and performance to enable designers to predictably and reliably solve increasingly tough verification problems. Joining forces with BDA gives our mutual customers the most advanced tools that deal with the growing number of nanometer-scale physical effects that design teams are facing. ”

Cadence Design Systems sued BDA last year over the way in which the simulator works with Cadence’s Virtuoso AMS layout software. In January, the companies reached a settlement in which BDA agreed to use the Cadence-preferred OASIS interface and to pay Cadence an undisclosed amount.

Hum said the BDA AFS Platform would form part of the company’s portfolio of AMS tools, including Eldo, ADit, and Questa ADMS.

Umesh Padval, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, said: “We are proud of BDA’s success, and we believe the combination with Mentor will create the industry’s most powerful mixed-signal verification technology business with critical scale and a large market reach.”