MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, announced today that Accellera and The SPIRIT Consortium have been awarded Synopsys' ninth annual Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award for their recently announced merger increasing the productivity of the EDA and design industries. On June 11, 2009, EDA industry organizations, Accellera and The SPIRIT Consortium, announced that the organizations' Boards agreed to a merger of the two entities. The union improves the process of language-based and IP standards development and both organizations are aligned on the path to formalize standards through the IEEE.

As separate standards organizations, Accellera has focused its efforts on transferring completed standards to the IEEE, while The SPIRIT Consortium has focused on defining an open standard framework for SoC flow development. The merger of Accellera and The SPIRIT Consortium brings together two successful standards-creating bodies, reducing overlapping efforts in the language and IP-based standards development as well as focusing energy toward a complete solution. This also enables more comprehensive development of new standards and a move away from creating standards based on a narrowly defined scope and intent. As a leading contributor to both organizations, Synopsys intends to continue its support of the newly merged organization.

"Accellera has a long standing focus on developing language-based standards for the systems, semiconductor, IP and EDA industry in an open, collaborative environment," said Shrenik Mehta, Accellera Chair. "Our organization is honored to be recognized as a recipient of the Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Award for our success in bringing standards from concept to reality along with The SPIRIT Consortium."

"We are honored to accept the Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award," said Ralph von Vignau, president of The SPIRIT Consortium. "The SPIRIT Consortium has consistently worked to accelerate the design of SoCs and IP re-use through standards. Our merger with Accellera strengthens our ability to deliver interoperable solutions to the EDA industry."

"Accellera has been the leader in language-based standards development for nearly a decade, having delivered ten ratified standards through the IEEE. The SPIRIT Consortium has been the leader in standards for IP-reuse for the past six years, and its IP-XACT standard has been broadly adopted by the IP developers," said Rich Goldman, vice president of corporate marketing and strategic alliances at Synopsys. "Their decision to merge into a single entity shows a clear vision by their respective boards to focus on broader standards that address the increasing complexity of advanced designs. As a founding member, Synopsys has been active in both organizations since their inception, and will continue to support the new organization."

About the Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award

The Tenzing Norgay EDA Interoperability Achievement Award was established by Synopsys to recognize EDA providers who collaborate on interoperable design flows that benefit the user community. The award is presented annually to organizations that have surpassed common levels of interoperability, have contributed to overall industry advancement and have helped provide a new view of the future for EDA interoperability. Named for the crucial role that Sherpa Tenzing Norgay played in the first successful attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, the EDA Interoperability Achievement Award recognizes achievements that are critical to a designer's success.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) is a world leader in electronic design automation (EDA), supplying the global electronics market with the software, intellectual property (IP) and services used in semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing. Synopsys' comprehensive, integrated portfolio of implementation, verification, IP, manufacturing and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) solutions helps address the key challenges designers and manufacturers face today, such as power and yield management, software-to-silicon verification and time-to-results. These technology-leading solutions help give Synopsys customers a competitive edge in bringing the best products to market quickly while reducing costs and schedule risk. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has more than 65 offices located throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Asia and India. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Any other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

    Editorial Contacts:
    Sheryl Gulizia
    Synopsys, Inc.
    650-584-8635
    sgulizia@synopsys.com

    Lisa Gillette-Martin
    MCA, Inc.
    650-968-8900 ext. 115
    lgmartin@mcapr.com

SOURCE Synopsys, Inc.

Web site: http://www.synopsys.com/