( ESNUG 558 Item 5 ) -------------------------------------------- [02/19/16]

From: [ Jim Hogan of Vista Ventures LLC ]
Subject: Hogan on Cadence, Mentor, OneSpin, Real Intent, Synopsys formal

Hi, John,

CAREFUL NOTE: Like a fine wine, formal tools easily take decades to mature.

Buyer beware if you hear a vendor claim that they have a "new breakthough"
formal tool.

Below are the 4 major players in formal verification tools.

Look at the ABV metrics/gotchas in ESNUG 558 #3 if you have questions.

And now here below are the 16 major types of Formal Apps.

Look at the APPS metrics/gotchas in ESNUG 558 #4 if you have questions.

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As I said at the beginning of this section, formal tools take decades to
write.  Here's the genealogy of those on the commercial market today:

  Cadence: Acquired Bell Labs Design Automation formal technology in
  1996, and Verplex in 2003.  Both are used as a basis for their
  Incisive Formal  Verification (IFV) internal development.  CDNS
  acquired Jasper in 2014.

  Mentor: Acquired 0-In in 2004, used as the technology basis of
  their Questa Formal Verification.  Acquired Calypto in 2015.
 
  OneSpin: Spun-out of Siemens/Infineon formal verification group
  in 2005.  Since that time, they've extended their core formal
  platform and expanded their offering.

  Real Intent: The founders came out of Sun Microsystems 15 years
  ago.  Originally they developed a formal verification platform,
  then focused on specific apps.

  Synopsys: Acquired the Chrysalis formal technology through their
  2001 Avanti merger.  Also picked up Hector through their 2012
  SpringSoft acquisition.  SNPS had internally written their Magellan
  formal tool.  They have a new tool listed on their website as
  "VC Formal" and they recently acquired Atrenta.

I've not included them in my matrix, but to complete the picture, Averant
is another early formal verification vendor, founded in 1997 as HDAC and 
renamed Averant in 2000.  I hadn't talked to Avarent's CEO, Ramin Hojati in
a long time, so I gave him a call.  Ramin said they are actively supporting
their customers and picking up a couple logos every year.  The majority of 
Averant business is Japan and with DoD customers.

Some large companies such as Intel and IBM still have internal ABV tools.  
There are also companies like Tortuga Logic who are not directly in the
formal business, but who use of formal technology in their products.

There are also a number of consulting companies providing a formal based 
verification service.  These include the well-known formal consulting
house Oski Tech, plus lessor known Paradigm Works, TVS, and others.

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As with my other summaries, I needed to do this as part of my own VC due 
diligence.  I hope the DeepChip readers find this report a useful starting
point to figure out which formal tools they may want to use.  

I look forward to others filling in whatever I missed in this write-up,
and to getting updates on these charts.

    - Jim Hogan
      Vista Ventures LLC, OneSpin BoD            Los Gatos, CA

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Related Articles

    Jim Hogan on how "this is not your father's formal verification"
    Where Formal ABV whomps HDL simulation for chip verification
    9 major and 23 minor Formal ABV tool metrics - plus their gotchas
    16 Formal Apps that make Formal easy for us non-Formal engineers
    Hogan on Cadence, Mentor, OneSpin, Real Intent, Synopsys formal

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