Electronic design automation rivals Avant! Corp and Synopsys Inc are swapping file format technology so that they can share modules of intellectual property and improve interoperability between their respective toolsets. Fremont, California-based Avant! has agreed to license its proprietary netlist format to Synopsys in return for licensing Synopsys’ Liberty package, including the widely used .lib format for advanced library modeling. It will use them as part of the Passport libraries offered by its Galax! Intellectual property and design reuse subsidiary. Synopsys is pushing for a common library format to be established between EDA vendors to replace the separate, multiple models in use today. Synopsys moved closer into very deep sub micron IC design specialist Avant!’s market last year when it acquired Epic Design Technology Inc for $475m (CI No 3,080). But the two have cooperated in the past and developed links between Synopsys’ synthesis and Avant! physical design tools. Synopsys, based in Mountain View, California, made a second, $500m acquisition last year in the shape of Videologic Inc.
