May 18, 2006 – Synopsys Inc. has acquired Virtio Corp., a developer of virtual platforms for embedded software development, for an undisclosed amount. The deal combines Synopsys’ System Studio product with Virtio’s virtual prototyping technology, and widens Synopsys’ offerings for an integrated technology lineup targeting integrated implementation, verification, and IP to speed up hardware and software development.

Virtio’s technology provides a software model that lets developers run and debug actual code at near real-time speeds, and develop drivers, operating systems, and applications, without having to wait for prototype hardware to start embedded software development.

“Mutual Synopsys and Virtio customers are telling us that by using Virtio’s virtual platform technology they’ve been able to avoid this delay and start software development 9-12 months earlier,” stated John Chilton, SVP/GM of the solutions group at Synopsys. “This acquisition gives Synopsys the opportunity to build on these successes and, by integrating Virtio’s technology with our industry-leading IP and tools, help address designers’ key ESL challenges.”