Sonics Distributes Synopsys IP to Offer End-to-End Memory Subsystem Solutions for Mobile, Digital Entertainment

MILPITAS, Calif., – April 27, 2011 – Sonics, Inc.®, the world’s number one supplier of on-chip communications IP, today announced that the company has signed an agreement with Synopsys to distribute its family of DesignWare® Universal DDR Memory Controllers for mobile and digital entertainment SoCs.  Sonics can now offer SoC designers a total end-to-end memory subsystem for next-generation SoCs requiring high-bandwidth DRAM access in devices such as smart phones, tablets, personal media players, HDTVs, DVRs and set-top boxes.

As part of the agreement, Sonics will distribute the DesignWare Universal DDR Memory Controllers with support for DDR2, DDR3, Mobile DDR and LPDDR2 standards.  Sonics will also distribute Synopsys verification IP for OCP and ARM AMBA® interconnect as part of its fabric verification environment. By providing Synopsys’ DesignWare Universal DDR Memory Controllers and verification IP with Sonics’ MemMax Scheduler, Sonics is giving designers and system architects a complete, plug-and-play memory solution that is highly tuned for maximum efficiency as they build next-generation SoCs.

“Sonics’ network-on-chip technology is complementary to Synopsys’ DesignWare DDR memory IP solutions,” said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for the Solutions Group at Synopsys.  “By allowing Sonics to distribute our DDR IP, it enables them to provide SoC designers with a turnkey memory solution consisting of silicon-proven DDR IP, enhanced memory utilization, low latency, intelligent scheduling and increased memory bandwidth.”

Memory IP products have long been part of Sonics overall solutions strategy for more than a decade.  Late last year, Sonics unveiled MemMax AMP as the first standalone memory scheduler that optimizes memory bandwidth/DRAM scheduling on-chip in a single IP block.  Building on the highly sophisticated and production-proven MemMax scheduler—which has powered HDTVs and gaming consoles over the past decade— MemMax AMP is the only standalone scheduler that allows SoC design teams to boost DRAM bandwidth utilization from 50 to more than 85 percent in some designs.

“As leading IP providers, both Synopsys and Sonics understand the IP requirements for SoCs in the mobile and digital entertainment sectors—especially high-definition video, now seen as one of the most pervasive and demanded features in today’s ‘smart’ devices,” said Jack Browne, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Sonics. “Memory sharing has become critical as SoC designs scale and complexity increases on-chip, so designers need robust, sophisticated memory subsystems that offer sustainable bandwidth optimization.  Teaming with Synopsys allows us to provide designers with a higher level of scalability, performance, improved transaction prioritization and total control of their memory subsystem throughout the design process.”

Availability

Sonics’ end-to-end memory subsystem, which includes Synopsys DesignWare DDR memory controllers, is available now.

About Sonics

Sonics, Inc. is a pioneer of network-on-chip (NoC) technology and today offers SoC designers the largest portfolio of intelligent, on-chip communications solutions for home entertainment, wireless, networking and mobile devices.  With a broad array of silicon-proven IP, Sonics helps designers eliminate memory bottlenecks associated with complex, high-speed SoC design, streamline and unify data flows and solve persistent network challenges in embedded systems with multiple cores.  As the leading supplier of on-chip communications networks, Sonics has enabled its customers to ship more than one billion units worldwide.  Founded in 1996, Sonics is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif. with offices worldwide.  For more information, please visit www.sonicsinc.com, www.sonicsinc.com/blog