Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced that Andes Technology, a Taiwanese provider of high-performance, low-power 32-bit processor IP and SoC platforms, has adopted the Cadence® digital front-end low-power design flow. The flow, based on the Common Power Format (CPF), deploys Cadence synthesis, simulation and formal verification technology. It enables Andes to provide its customers a scalable and configurable low-power management framework that blends hardware and software solutions for sophisticated power domain partitio ns and power scaling schemes.

Mentor Graphics Corp. announced that Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation has expanded their adoption and deployment of the Catapult® C tool for the high-level synthesis (HLS) of next generation application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for audio, communication and image processing systems.

Magma® Design Automation announced the availability of a proven hierarchical RTL-to-GDSII reference flow for the Common Platform™ alliance’s 32/28nm low-power process technology. This automated, comprehensive solution provides predictable results and reduces development costs for 2-million-instance and larger systems on chip (SoCs) that are manufactured at this advanced process node.

Magma Design Automation continued its march out of its financial difficulties. For the six straight quarter in a row it beat guidance. This quarter it posted revenue of $32.6 million, with a non-GAAP operating margin of 13% and a non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.05. During the quarter it generated $1.4 million cash from operations.

Mentor Graphics Corporation has collaborated with GLOBALFOUNDRIES to create a facility called Graphical Design Rule Manual (GDRM) that helps IC designers rapidly debug layout design rule violations by integrating the Calibre® RVE™ results viewing environment with GLOBALFOUNDRIES' electronic design rule manuals.

Synopsys, Inc. announced immediate availability of the DesignWare® MIPI M-PHY® IP for next-generation high-speed interfaces based on the newly ratified MIPI® Alliance M-PHY specification. With this latest addition to the DesignWare MIPI IP portfolio, Synopsys is the first provider to offer a comprehensive solution of a controller and PHY IP for both the MIPI DigRF(SM) v3 (2.5G/3.0G) and v4 (4G) standards.

Magma® Design Automation Inc. launched Quartz iPOP, the "improved Productivity, Operability and Performance" initiative to facilitate designers' adoption of the Quartz™ DRC and Quartz LVS software for designs targeted at 65 nanometers (nm) and below. Magma's Quartz products, the first truly scalable physical verification solutions, handle larger designs and provide turnaround time up to an order of magnitude faster than traditional solutions – without sacrificing accuracy or requiring additional hardware. These unique capabilities provide the improved productivity and performance necessary to cope with the higher verification burden for designs at 65 nm and smaller without increasing the physical verification budget.

Mentor Graphics (MENT)’s 2QFY11 results and outlook were of course already, and appropriately, reflected in the higher share price this past Friday, but the following details may still be of some interest. The 2QFY11 results were modestly below my model, but the guidance for the balance of the fiscal year ending January 2011 was better than I would have assumed (the outlook includes of course the recent Valor acquisition, which, due to certain accounting treatment for revenue recognition of a joint venture in which Valor had an interest, may not be as incremental on a fully consolidated basis as once thought. Nonetheless, in terms of product positioning the acquisition made sense).

Magma® Design Automation announced TowerJazz has qualified the Titan™ Mixed-Signal Design Platform for TowerJazz's Power Management Analog/Mixed-Signal (AMS) Reference Flow and process design kits (iPDKs) for its 180-nanometer (nm) technologies. Magma's Titan software and TowerJazz's foundry technology provide mutual customers with a comprehensive design and manufacturing solution that enables users to accelerate the design-to-silicon process and achieve first-time silicon success.

Synopsys reported 3QFY10 results ahead of my model, including slightly better revenues. The non-GAAP operating margin (23% vs. 21.6% estimate) and cash flow did well, and I infer that product bookings were ahead of the quarter-billion dollar forecast (with the book/bill getting closer to 1.0x than has been the case for most of the past two years). 4QFY10 guidance was in line for revenues and earnings, though the cash flow forecast was well above my prior $205 million forecast.