ARC International has acquired Tenison Technology EDA Ltd., a privately held company that is a leading provider of software tools used to help develop system-on-chip (SoC) designs.
The acquisition includes key members of Tenison's engineering team, patents and products such as the VTOC™ software suite and IP eXchange technology. The company’s customer list includes Tier 1 companies such as Broadcom, Freescale and Renesas. The consideration will be £1 M in cash and under the terms of the UKLA listing rules this acquisition is a Class 2 transaction and does not require shareholder approval.
The acquired products will provide highly accurate models of ARC's configurable processors and multimedia subsystems. Moreover, they will allow customers to simulate virtually all logic on any ARC-based™ chip, including those using non-ARC technologies such as customer-developed intellectual property and IP from other suppliers.
Carl Schlachte, president and CEO of ARC International, said, "SoCs for consumer applications are increasingly dominated by chips incorporating multiple processors along with IP from multiple sources. To address the design challenges of customers using these technologies, ARC now will provide its own 'Star IP' and software tools along with Tenison's technology to enable customers to create power-efficient, high performance and low cost SoCs. This will enhance ARC's ability to service customers using ARC subsystems and cores as part of an SoC design that includes other design components."
Additionally, ARC International announced the establishment of an engineering center in Cambridge, England, and the appointment of David Greaves to ARC's Office of the CTO. The office's charter is to advance ARC's technology innovation and leadership in the areas of configurability, multicore SoC design and software development environments.