June 20, 2012 -- Atrenta Inc. today announced that it has acquired NextOp Software, Inc., a provider of assertion synthesis technology.

Atrenta's products focus on improving efficiency and reducing cost for the design of complex semiconductor IP and system-on-chip (SOC) devices while NextOp's products focus on improving efficiency and reducing cost for the functional verification of IPs and SOCs. The combination of both company’s products creates a more complete SoC Realization platform.

The acquisition of NextOp allows Atrenta to expand its SpyGlass register transfer level (RTL) platform to include functional verification. Utilizing patented static and formal analysis techniques, the SpyGlass platform currently provides RTL design efficiency improvements in the areas of linting, clock synchronization, power optimization, testability, timing constraints and physical routing congestion. The SpyGlass platform will now be expanded to include functional verification support using NextOp's patented dynamic assertion synthesis technology, resulting in verification efficiency improvements for semiconductor and consumer electronics developers.

"I've heard good things about NextOp's verification technology from some impressive customers. The combination of Atrenta's RTL design and NextOp's RTL verification technology will improve the entire SoC Realization process," said Jim Hogan, EDA industry veteran and private investor. "I'm also glad to see private/private acquisitions like this happening again after such a long dry spell. Atrenta could be leading a trend in renewed growth for the EDA sector."

"With the acquisition of Magma there has been renewed talk about a roll-up in the middle of the EDA community," said Gary Smith, founder and chief analyst for Gary Smith EDA. "The most obvious candidates are the RTL sign-off tool vendors, and the most talked about driver, of the roll-up, has been Atrenta. This could be the start of something big, and NextOp was an excellent place to start."

NextOp's BugScope assertion synthesis tool will be sold and supported by the combined Atrenta/ NextOp worldwide field organization. Dr. Yunshan Zhu will assume the role of Vice President, new technologies reporting to Dr. Ajoy Bose. Dr. Yuan Lu, co-founder and CTO of NextOp will assume the role of chief verification architect reporting to Dr. Zhu. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.