Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/21878-mentor-graphics-acquires-berkeley-design-automation-to-advance-nanometer-analogmixed-dignal-verification

Mentor Graphics acquires Berkeley Design Automation to advance nanometer analog/mixed-signal verification

March 21, 2014

Mentor Graphics Corp. announced that it has acquired Berkeley Design Automation Inc. (BDA), a recognized leader in nanometer analog, mixed-signal, and RF circuit verification. With over one hundred customers worldwide, BDA uniquely addresses nanometer circuit design challenges via its Analog FastSPICE™ unified verification platform and exceptional vertical-application expertise. The acquisition of BDA aligns with Mentor’s goal to deliver technologies with superior performance and automation for the growing challenges of Analog/Mixed-Signal (AMS) verification.

“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.”

“Tight integration between best-in-class tools, strong foundry partnerships and impeccable engineering work were the criteria used in our decision to acquire BDA,” said Robert Hum, vice president and general manager, DSM division at Mentor. “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.  The BDA AFS Platform combined with Mentor’s proven AMS verification tools, Eldo® Classic, Eldo Premier, ADit™ and our leading AMS verification platform, Questa® ADMS,  creates the industry’s most powerful portfolio of solutions for addressing nanometer circuit verification challenges.”

“Bessemer Venture Partners is excited by Mentor’s acquisition of BDA,” said Umesh Padval, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “BVP backs great entrepreneurs who lead transformative startups - and BDA certainly fits that strategy. 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.”