ARM Acquires Obsidian for Adoption of Processor Verification Tools

ARM (News - Alert), a leader in microprocessor intellectual property (IP), has acquired Obsidian Software, which specializes in processor verification products and solutions.

The acquisition will bring Obsidian Software’s flexible processor verification solutions to future ARM processor designs, ARM officials said.

Obsidian Software already has a long history of building advanced verification tools for the ARM architecture and enabling ARM partners, said Eric Hennenhoefer, president of Obsidian Software.

“The ARM ecosystem will be extended by the addition of Obsidian Software’s verification solutions, which will accelerate the success of the ARM architecture in the marketplace,” Hennenhoefer added.

As System on Chip (SoCs) and processors become more complex, ARM has realized the need to develop more sophisticated processor verification strategies. This acquisition augments ARM’s drive in matching its verification strategies with the rate of change in its high performance, complex SoC IP components, company officials said.

“ARM and Obsidian Software have had a long relationship which, started with early work on Cortex-A8,” said Mike Inglis, GM and EVP, Processor (News - Alert) Division, ARM, in a statement. “The technology and people that will come with this acquisition are a significant addition to our capabilities in maximizing quality and reducing time to market of ARM-based SoCs.”

Following this announcement, the Obsidian Software validation team has become part of an ARM Processor validation team based in Austin, Texas.

Earlier this year, TMCnet reported that the rising adoption rate of ARM processor technology in growing mobile markets like smartphones, tablets and other consumer electronics has resulted in higher profit margins for the company.

The microprocessor designer has reported sharp increase in profits for the fourth quarter (4Q) of 2010. The profit before tax for the microprocessor IP developer was £34.9 ($56.22 million) in 4Q 2010 as compared to £20.1 ($32.38 million) in 4Q 2009.