MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, today recognized  the Best Paper Awards from the most recent Synopsys Users' Group (SNUG) conferences in Boston, Ottawa and Austin. The three conferences are part of a global network of SNUG events that drew nearly 8,000 Synopsys customers in 2010.

Synopsys recently expanded the SNUG program to include events in Ottawa and Austin, making the conferences more accessible and relevant to a greater number of its customers. "Bringing SNUG to additional customers underscores the value that Synopsys sees in these popular gatherings, and the strong attendance numbers and enthusiastic participation confirm that users also find value in participating in these live events," says Al Czamara, director of hardware engineering with Test Evolution, and technical chair for SNUG Boston, Ottawa and Austin.  

More than 70 technical sessions were held at the three conferences, covering all areas of design including synthesis, verification, low power design, physical design/sign off, analog/mixed-signal design, custom design, test and rapid prototyping tools. Award winning papers for each location include:

SNUG Boston

• First place, Best Paper: Bruce Zahn of LSI Corporation for "Experiences with PrimeTime ECO Capabilities"
• Second place, Best Paper and Best First-time Presenter: Mike Spofford and Kate Kelley of Xilinx for "Achieving Faster Turnaround Time and Better QOR Using Compile Points and Design Preservation Flow for Virtex Devices"  
• Third place, Best Paper: Wilson Snyder of Cavium Networks for "The Verilog Preprocessor: Force for 'Good and Evil'"
• Technical Committee Award, Honorable Mention: Joe Manzella of LSI Corporation for "Customizing VMM Transactors with Options"

SNUG Ottawa:

• Best paper and Technical Committee Award: Christopher Krueger of STMicroelectronics for "ICC Tips and Tricks"  
• Second place, Best Paper: David Long and Doug Smith of Doulos for "Stick a Fork in It: Applications for SystemVerilog Dynamic Processes"
• Third place, Best Paper: Mike Olson and Peter Meyer of DA-Integrated for "End to End Test Optimization Using IJTAG"

SNUG Austin:

• First place, Best Paper: Mike Burns, James Roberts and Ray Voith of Oracle for "Database Schema for Very High Bandwidth Coverage Collection"
• Second place, Best Paper: Mohammed Shahid Imam and Martin Saint-Laurent of Qualcomm Incorporated for "Reducing Flip-Flop Power in Hexagon Core Design and use of the Flop-Merging"
• Third place, Best Paper: Hyon Han and Hongda Lu of AMD for "Flop Clustering Algorithm to Reduce Clock Power"
• Technical Committee Award, Honorable Mention: John Paz, Sameer Shah and Colin MacDonald of Broadcom Corporation for "Explore Your Design Visually Using PrimeTime & Gnuplot"

Aart de Geus, chairman and chief executive officer at Synopsys, opened the conference at SNUG Boston with a keynote sharing his perspective on important semiconductor trends, including the rapidly growing "smart" technology space. de Geus also spoke about Synopsys' recent technology developments, including the new HSPICE® Precision Parallel (HPP) multi-threading technology that delivers up to 7X simulation speed-up for complex analog and mixed-signal designs, as well as the company's expanded leadership in the virtual prototyping solutions space. SNUG Boston also featured Synopsys' Designer Community Expo, which showcased the integration between Synopsys and more than 20 of its partners from across the electronics industry, providing solutions that address the difficult design challenges SNUG attendees face.

"There was a sense of optimism at the twelfth annual SNUG Boston, which I think can be attributed to the rebound the semiconductor industry has experienced this year. The race towards advanced nodes is in full force and engineers are taking full advantage of the ability to collaborate, share and learn in order to solve some of the toughest design challenges out there," said de Geus. "We listen intently to our customers to make sure that we are providing solutions that meet their needs and allow them to drive continued advancements in electronics. I always leave SNUG conferences energized by the thoughtful dialog that takes place across the engineering community."

The 2010 SNUG Sponsors include: Platinum Sponsors ARM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and TSMC; Gold Sponsors Altera Corporation, Xilinx and Zuken; and Silver Sponsors Agilent Technologies Inc. and Doulos.

Please visit the Synopsys Users Group website at http://snug.synopsys.com for more information on upcoming events and how to submit a paper for consideration by the SNUG technical committee. Customers can also access proceedings and the award-winning papers at this link.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) is a world leader in electronic design automation (EDA), supplying the global electronics market with the software, intellectual property (IP) and services used in semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing. Synopsys' comprehensive, integrated  portfolio of implementation, verification, IP, manufacturing and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) solutions helps address the key challenges designers and manufacturers face today, such as power and yield management, system-to-silicon verification and time-to-results. These technology-leading solutions help give Synopsys customers a competitive edge in bringing the best products to market quickly while reducing costs and schedule risk. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has approximately 70 offices located throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Asia and India. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys, SNUG and HSPICE are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Synopsys, Inc.