Synopsys Opens Milkyway Database

The manufacturer says . . .

Murray Disman says . . .

Synopsys Opens Industry-Proven Milkyway Database Provides Access to Design Database to Further Industry-Wide Tool Interoperability MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Feb. 3, 2003--Synopsys, Inc., the world leader in integrated circuit (IC) design software, announced that it has opened third-party access to its production-proven Milkyway design database. Customers and electronic design automation (EDA) tool vendors can now link their tools directly into the Milkyway environment through either a scripting-language application programming interface (API) or a C-based API. Access to Milkyway will benefit customers and EDA companies by reducing integration costs and advancing tool interoperability for the electronics industry. Milkyway is the most widely used database for IC design implementation and advanced technologies extending to 90 nm and below. "Opening Milkyway is a continuation of Synopsys' long-standing track record of supporting customers' requests for interoperability with initiatives such as Liberty, SDC, SystemC, and OpenVera," said Aart de Geus, chairman and chief executive officer at Synopsys, Inc. "Milkyway is a proven database with thousands of tapeouts. The design community will benefit from the ability to interface their own and third-party tools with a widely used common database." "As a worldwide independent semiconductor vendor, we rely heavily on a wide range of EDA technologies and platforms for the design of our dedicated systems-on-a-chip, and we have always strived for higher standardization and better interoperability across the EDA industry," said Philippe Magarshack, group vice president for Design Automation, Central Research and Development at STMicroelectronics. "Synopsys' IC implementation tools and Milkyway are production-proven, and we are relying on them for many designs in our 130 and 90 nm technology platforms. The ability to access Milkyway through an open API will allow our other key EDA suppliers to plug their tools into our Synopsys' Milkyway-based design flow. This announcement represents a significant step towards a standard interface to the design database, which should lead, we believe, to better interoperability across the whole EDA industry." "We welcome Synopsys' move to open the Milkyway design database to the EDA community," said Genda Hu, vice president of Corporate Marketing at TSMC. "The Synopsys Milkyway design database has been a part of the backbone of the TSMC Reference Flow for years, and our customers have successfully taped out many designs based on Synopsys tools. By opening Milkyway, Synopsys smartly provides multiple paths for implementing innovative system-on-a-chip designs." "Agilent's commitment to excellence in system-on-a-chip test with our single-scalable platform and per-pin architecture is well aligned with EDA-generated design data," said Tom Newsom, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Automated Test Group. "Opening access to the Synopsys Milkyway design database enables closer linkages between design and test environments, resulting in shorter time-to-market and lower cost of test." "The Synopsys Milkyway database is a leading foundation for modern IC designs and in use at many of our current customers," said Patrick Romich, chief executive officer of Synchronicity Software, Inc. "By offering access to this database through a production-proven C-API, Synopsys enables Synchronicity with the capabilities to provide our world-class design-management system to leading-edge designers at 130 nm, 90 nm, and below." Access to Milkyway Database with Broad Industry Support EDA tool vendors can link their tools directly into Synopsys' Milkyway database via industry-standard interfaces and Milkyway APIs. More than 40 universities and semiconductor, EDA, test and manufacturing, and intellectual property (IP) companies have announced their support for opening Milkyway. For a complete list of supporting statements, please visit www.synopsys.com. Also, in a separate announcement, Synopsys announced its new Galaxy Design Platform, which is built on the Milkyway database. Milkyway Access Program (MAP-in) The Milkyway environment is available to all EDA vendors through Synopsys' new program, MAP-in. MAP-in gives members free access to a copy of the Milkyway environment documentation and software, a run-time license for the APIs for integration development, an invitation to Synopsys' EDA Interoperability Developers' Forums, access to Synopsys' Secured User Research Facility, and an online Milkyway discussion forum. In addition, there is an annual comprehensive service option for those who would like a deeper level of support. Fourteen EDA companies have joined MAP-in. Availability The Milkyway environment with Scheme API software and documentation is available immediately for download through the MAP-in Web site. Access to the Milkyway C-API linkable libraries for C developers is now in limited availability.

Synopsys released its plans for the Milkyway database when it said it would. It is clear that Synopsys intends to provide its primary support for the Milkyway database it obtained with the acquisition of Avant!. The company has announced that it has opened the Milkyway design database to third-party access and has provided access to the environment through its new MAP-in (Milkyway Access Program) program. Synopsys claims that 14 EDA companies have already joined the MAP-in program. Mentor has joined the MAP-in program, which at this time does not include Cadence. Mentor has not joined the OpenAccess Coalition. Mentor will integrate its Calibre Design-to-Silicon and IC Station analog/mixed-signal design flows with the Milkyway database. Mentor claims that the Calibre flow takes a completed design through manufacturing in one environment, including design-rule checking, layout vs. schematic, a full set of resolution enhancement technologies, full chip transistor-level extraction, interactive physical verification and design viewing, and mask data preparation. Synopsys makes the point that Milkyway is a production-proven database with thousands of tapeouts. This is in contrast to the OpenAccess database that was derived from the contribution of Cadence's Genesis database to the OpenAccess Coalition. Companies, primarily Cadence, are just beginning to port tools to the new database. Cadence has extended an open invitation to Synopsys to join the OpenAccess Coalition. Synopsys has said that Cadence would be welcome in the MAP-in program. The two companies are clearly following different paths. It is hoped that they will develop some degree of commonality between the two APIs for the databases. At the same time, Synopsys announced the launch of Galaxy Design Platform, an integrated RTL-to-GDSII design system that uses the Milkyway database. Tools that are integrated include Design Compiler, DFT Compiler, Power Compiler, DesignWare, Floorplan Compiler, Physical Compiler, Astro, PrimeTime, TetraMAX, Star-RCXT, Hercules, and Proteus. Synopsys claims that Galaxy Design Platform will incorporate consistent timing, common libraries, delay calculation, and constraints from RTL all the way to silicon using the common Milkyway database. Galaxy is in beta test at two customer sites. Limited customer availability of Galaxy Design Platform will begin in March, 2003. General availability will begin in June, 2003.

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