The combination of Sapphire and Sequence puts us in the lead position for the SOC design closure business. Prior to this merger, both Sequence and Sapphire sold value-added point tools to our customers. The confluence of technologies and the market reach of the combined companies make this a watershed event for the design automation industry. This merger and integration of tools will simplify our design closure process. This combination is an excellent fit.
Physical synthesis is run before routing and is a component of design closure.
A complete design closure solution includes both physical synthesis and post-route optimization based on interconnect coupling, which dominates interconnect timing below 180 nanometers. We believe the overall design closure market opportunity includes and is much larger than the market for physical synthesis alone, and because physical synthesis does not operate post-route, customers must have the Sequence tools for optimization. About Sapphire Sapphire Design Automation addresses the emerging EDA market segment faced with the design closure issues of timing, power, noise and yield. Sapphire has developed an innovative approach to solving the timing, power, and signal integrity problems associated with deep submicron semiconductor technology. The Company offers software that dramatically improves design productivity and produces superior quality results for interconnect-dominated ASIC and SOC designs.