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.

Synopsys has participated in the development of many complex chips with design, verification and test solutions that help its customers get working silicon to market under tight time-to-market deadlines. Synopsys Professional Services has delivered design service solutions in wireless modem chip design for multiple customers in Korea and Europe. It has also developed and delivered solutions for the wireless standard known as EDGE for major Japanese customers. In the field of broadband, Synopsys has delivered chip design solutions from concept to implementation for major customers such as CCL/ITRI in Taiwan. Much of this expertise comes from the technical activities that are part of Synopsys India's intense R&D efforts.

Synopsys Professional Services, in addition to providing turnkey design services, also provides platform products such as the Design Conformance lab and the Telecom Workbench, which enable customers to perform design and verification for major wireless and networking standards. Major system design companies use the Design Conformance lab for wireless standards for design activities starting from high-level modeling to implementation and verification.

For many years, Synopsys has believed investment in India is important to the company's growth. It has recruited and trained engineers from the extensive talent pool in India bringing valuable skills and technologies to the products it delivers, and continues to focus investment in this growing technology sector through its university programs and design centers.