ARM acquiring Axys

Cambridge, UK—To expand its RealView design tools portfolio with ESL expertise, ARM Holdings plc recently bought Axys Design Automation Inc.

By Control Engineering Staff August 24, 2004

Cambridge, UK— To expand its RealView design tools portfolio with ESL expertise, ARM Holdings plc recently bought Axys Design Automation Inc. Closing is subject only to confirmation by the California Secretary of State, which was expected by Aug. 18, 2004. Located in Irvine, CA, with a design center in Aachen, Germany, Axys has 26 employees and $1.9 million in assets, and provides processor, system modeling and simulation solutions.

Axys’ Electronic System Level (ESL) products reduce overall system costs by allowing designs to be modeled early in the development cycle (pre-silicon), decreasing time-to-market and minimizing design errors. With this acquisition, ARM will expand its existing RealView design tools portfolio, and further enable its silicon and systems partners to develop digital products.

‘The industry trend toward greater complexity of systems has created a demand for tools that bridge the gap between software development environments and the hardware design tools from our EDA partners,’ says Warren East, ARM’s CEO. ‘Axys’ ESL products offer a high degree of integration with our existing RealView Developer Suite software design tools. When combined into an integrated offering, these will enable highly optimized, cost-effective, system designs. Axys’ support for the SystemC modeling standard, along with its proven commercial success in key customers made them a natural fit with ARM.’

Vojin Zivojnovic, Axys’ co-founder and CEO, adds that, ‘Axys and ARM have a successful, longstanding relationship. Our technology and expertise in ESL, which helps to link embedded software and EDA solutions in the design flow, complements existing ARM tools and modeling capabilities. We’ll continue to support our existing customers and partners, bringing together ARM processors, OptimoDE data engines, AMBA interconnect and the software development process, with industry-leading third-party IP in a single, unified design environment.’

Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news editorjmontague@reedbusiness.com