COORDINATING ACTIVITY BETWEEN MULTIPLE millions of anything is non-trivial at best, and impossible without the right combination of technology, resources and expertise. Synopsys develops software that is essential to the development of today's complex systems, because the power of millions of transistors found in even the smallest electronics systems can only be harnessed with sophisticated EDA tools. To enable the company to keep ahead of the incredibly rapid growth in design complexity, Synopsys invests about 25 percent of its revenue in research and development (R&D) and follows an in-sourcing business model, developing all of its technology in-house.

As part of its rapid growth, Synopsys has established a strong foothold in India. Since 1995, Synopsys has invested heavily in the Indian design community from its R&D center in Bangalore. Synopsys India is now the biggest R&D center in Asia, a $25 million corporate center that encompasses technology development from every Synopsys business unit. Over 100 people in Bangalore develop software that spans a wide range of applications-EDA tool development, verification, chip design applications and methodologies, design services and consulting. In 2002, Synopsys extended its commitment in this region with an R&D center in Hyderabad and a sales office in Delhi.

Synopsys India is important to the company for several reasons. First, many of the world leaders in electronic design—such as Cisco, IBM, Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments—are expanding in India. In order to help its customers solve their toughest design challenges, Synopsys needs to have engineering, sales, support and management resources close to where its customers design their systems. In addition, Synopsys realizes that India is a vibrant source of engineering talent and because of the sophisticated technology required to develop Synopsys tools, they are able to recruit the best and brightest engineers to support its aggressive R&D pursuits.

Having an effective university program is important to fuel the growth of VLSI design. The ability to deliver complex and feature-rich designs within tight production schedules is largely dependent on having access to qualified engineers. To this end, Synopsys actively supports VLSI and microelectronics education in India by facilitating non-commercial usage of its products for instruction and research in several educational institutes across the country. Synopsys and IIT Kharagpur, for example, are conducting joint research on modeling complex protocols, which are fundamental in the operation of electronic systems.

Synopsys’ Verification Technology Group is the oldest and largest software R&D group in Synopsys India. The group has been in existence in Bangalore since 1996, and during this period, has expanded to contribute to different areas of verification, including simulation, testbench, Smart Verification technologies, intellectual property (IP) encryption and verification IP. The team is a complementary mix of EDA experience and young talent from premier institutions in India. Key technologies delivered in the past have been performance optimizations and tighter tool integration; both are critical in terms of design complexity, speed, power, and time-to-market.