Latest Synopsys Virtualizer Release Speeds Virtual Prototype Creation by up to 3X

News release:

Latest Synopsys Virtualizer Release Speeds Virtual Prototype Creation by up to 3X

New Modeling Interface and Automation Increase Modeling Productivity to Enable Earlier Start of Software Development

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Highlights:

• Enhanced model authoring capability speeds the creation of SystemC-based transaction-level models used to build virtual prototypes
• New import function reduces modeling effort and errors by automating model generation from IP specifications captured in popular formats such as IP-XACT, Excel, Word and PDF
• New simulation profiler quickly identifies execution bottlenecks to enable faster prototype simulation performance
• Deeper integration with popular software debuggers such as ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5™) and Lauterbach TRACE32 System helps identify difficult bugs through multicore and context-aware debugging

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP used in the design, verification and manufacture of electronic components and systems, today announced availability of the latest release of Synopsys' Virtualizer™ tool set for creating virtual prototypes and Virtualizer Development Kits (VDKs) that accelerate embedded software development. The new Virtualizer release improves modeling productivity through its new model authoring feature and IP specification import function, enabling engineers to develop system-level models and assemble them into virtual prototypes up to three times faster. In addition, enhanced support for popular debugger tools allows software developers to easily integrate Virtualizer-based virtual prototypes into their existing software debug flows.
"Using Virtualizer, we can abstract the full SoC design into a virtual prototype in a very short period of time to facilitate early software development and hardware/software integration," said Satoshi Aoki of the Embedded Platform Development Department at Ricoh Company, Ltd. "We believe Virtualizer is a must-have tool for SoC development."
Synopsys' Virtualizer virtual prototyping solution is an integral part of the industry's most comprehensive solution of tools, models and services for early software development, hardware/software integration, and system validation. Virtualizer addresses the increasing software complexity associated with semiconductor and electronic products by enabling the efficient creation of SystemC-based transaction-level models (TLMs), as well as the assembly of TLMs into virtual prototypes representing complete systems. The Virtualizer tool set is also used by designers to create customized VDKs, software development kits containing design-specific virtual prototypes as well as debug and analysis tools and sample software, which can be deployed to software development teams up to 12 months before silicon availability. Ready-to-use VDKs for ARM® big.LITTLE™ processing and ARM Cortex™-A15 MPCore™ processor-based designs are also available from Synopsys.
"Mitigating development risk and reducing time to market are key considerations for companies developing complex systems such as smartphones, tablets and smart-TVs," said Javier Orensanz, director of product management, system design division, ARM. "The Synopsys VDKs for ARM big.LITTLE processing and Cortex-A15 processor-based designs enable engineers to achieve optimal results by addressing these considerations. When used alongside ARM Development Studio 5 and the ARM Streamline™ performance analyzer, engineers are able to improve energy efficiency and even further reduce development risk."
This Virtualizer release incorporates a new graphical simulation profiler which makes it easier for virtual prototyping teams to find and address simulation bottlenecks. Out-of-the-box support for the latest APIs in popular software debuggers such as Lauterbach TRACE32 System and ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5) enables software teams to use VDKs to create a powerful, integrated environment for multicore software debug. In addition, integration with MathWorks' Simulink simulation environment enables more rapid deployment of virtual hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing.
"The tight integration of our TRACE32 debugger with the latest Virtualizer release includes mutual support for the industry-standard Multi-Core Debug API, giving software programmers a unified and efficient environment for multicore debug and analysis," said Stephan Lauterbach, general manager at Lauterbach. "This integration enables engineers to start software development early in the design cycle on virtual prototypes without having to switch to other debug tools as they transition to real hardware."
The model authoring interface in the new Virtualizer tool set simplifies and automates model creation with new features such as automatic design rule checking and design-sensitive help, improving modeling productivity for both virtual prototyping experts as well as those less experienced. The new tool release also enables users to import existing IP specifications in popular formats such as IP-XACT, Excel, Word and PDF, further speeding model development by automatically generating SystemC Modeling Library (SCML) constructs and industry-standard Accellera Systems Initiative TLM-2.0 bus interfaces. In addition to providing improved model creation capabilities, the most recent Virtualizer release continues to support direct integration of TLM-2.0 standard-based models of common IP blocks readily available in the market, including Synopsys' DesignWare® TLM Library models, ARM Fast Models, and other SystemC TLM models available from Synopsys.  It also supports more than 900 system-level models that can be found on TLMCentral.
"Software teams are increasingly taking advantage of virtual prototypes to get an early jump on software development," said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for IP and systems at Synopsys. "The latest release of Virtualizer makes it easier and faster than ever for design teams to create virtual prototypes and deploy them to software engineers in VDKs, enabling a significant time-to-market advantage over competitors relying on only traditional software development methods."
Availability & ResourcesThe new Virtualizer 12.06 release is available now.

• Learn more about Virtualizer: http://www.synopsys.com/Virtualizer
  • Read A View from the Top blog
  • See our virtual prototyping videos
  • Try our virtual prototyping demo

About SynopsysSynopsys, 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.

Best Buy Releases Results of Independent Investigation; New Chairman of the Board Elected

News release:

Best Buy Releases Results of Independent Investigation; New Chairman of the Board Elected

Best Buy Releases Results of Independent Investigation; New Chairman of the Board Elected MINNEAPOLIS, May 14, 2012 - The Board of Directors of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) announced that on Saturday, May 12, 2012, it elected director Hatim Tyabji to succeed Richard Schulze as Chairman of the Company, effective at the conclusion of the annual meeting on June 21, 2012. Mr. Tyabji, currently Chairman of the Audit Committee, has served as a director since 1998. When Mr. Schulze steps down as Chairman, he will become Founder and Chairman Emeritus, an honorary position. Mr. Schulze will serve out the remainder of his term as director through June 2013. "Hatim's history of leadership combines technology, retail, financial and mobile experience at the most senior levels," said lead independent director Matthew Paull. "He has founded companies, chaired and served on boards and successfully led enterprises through long-term growth and change. The Board is grateful for his many years of service and is pleased to expand his role to Chairman." "The story of Best Buy is a remarkable American success story," said incoming Chairman Hatim Tyabji. "Dick's leadership and vision changed the landscape of American retail, and he will forever be remembered as an iconic entrepreneur. We join Best Buy's 167,000 employees in thanking him." The Board also publicly released the results of an independent investigation into personal conduct allegations involving former CEO Brian Dunn, who resigned in April. When these allegations, which were unrelated to the company's operations or financial controls, were brought to the Board's attention, the Audit Committee immediately initiated an investigation. Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Dunn resigned. When the Audit Committee was first informed of the allegations in mid-March 2012, it hired outside law firm WilmerHale to conduct an independent investigation. In the interest of transparency and accountability, the board made a commitment to publicly release the findings. Key findings of the investigation include: ·         The CEO violated Company policy by engaging in an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment. ·         The CEO's relationship with the female employee demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a lack of professionalism, but the inquiry revealed no misuse of Company resources. The inquiry also revealed no misuse of aircraft.  ·         In addition, as part of the investigation, it was determined that the Chairman of the Board of Directors acted inappropriately when he failed to bring the matter to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors in December 2011, when the allegations were first raised with him. "In December, when the conduct of our then-CEO was brought to my attention, I confronted him with the allegations (which he denied), told him his conduct was totally unacceptable and contrary to Best Buy's policies and everything I, and the Company, stand for. I understand and accept the findings of the Audit Committee," said Mr. Schulze. In light of these findings, the Audit Committee of the Board will launch an effort to review and enhance, if appropriate, Best Buy's relevant corporate policies and procedures. The goal of this review is to ensure a positive and consistent workplace environment for all employees at all levels. In addition to electing a new chairman, the independent directors of the board have moved from a neutral position to a recommendation that the shareholders approve the shareholder proposal recommending declassification of the Board, which would require every director to stand for reelection on an annual basis.  "As a Board, we support the proposal for annual elections as an additional demonstration of our commitment to strong corporate governance practices. Each of us - with no exceptions - will be subject to approval by the shareholders on an annual basis," said Mr. Tyabji. The full report can be viewed at www.bby.com. Investigation Methodology The inquiry relied upon voluminous interviews, documents and other data. The inquiry included 45 interviews of 34 current or former employees; searches of e-mails and other documents on the CEO's and the female employee's computers; a review of relevant internal ethics complaints; a survey of personnel records; a review of the CEO's and the female employee's purchase records using their employee discount; an analysis of the log of products the CEO tested as product samples; and an analysis of the CEO's and the female employee's Company phone records. The Company did not have access to the CEO's complete personal cell phone records. In addition, the Company's Internal Audit staff performed an in-depth analysis of expense reports, records reflecting corporate use of aircraft, and records of the CEO's use of a Company credit card over a three-year period. Mr. Dunn's Separation Agreement At the conclusion of the investigation, the Company reached a separation agreement with Mr. Dunn that includes value reflecting the increased period for a non-compete from one year, the standard company policy, to three years. The separation agreement is comprised of a previously earned bonus for FY 2012, vesting of previously awarded restricted stock, a severance payment and an unused vacation payment. Previously earned FY2012 bonus: $1,140,000 Previously awarded and reported restricted stock grants of 131,876 shares, valued at close of business on Friday, May 11, 2012, ($19.28 per share), totaling $2,542,569 Severance payment of $2,850,000 Compensation for unused vacation: $106,742 Using the May 11, 2012, stock price for calculation, the estimated total value of the severance package is $6,639,311. About Chairman Hatim A. Tyabji Mr. Tyabji has more than 40 years of experience as a board member, operating executive and entrepreneur in various technology industry segments, including mobile communications, enterprise software, financial services and mainframe computing. Since 2001, Mr. Tyabji has been Chairman and CEO of Bytemobile, Inc., a leading global provider of video optimization and traffic management systems for mobile network operators. He is also chairman of Jasper Wireless, Inc., which provides operators with cloud-based machine-to-machine (M2M) and device management services. Mr. Tyabji currently serves on the boards of Merchant e-Solutions, Touch Networks (Australia) and the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. Previously, Mr. Tyabji was Chairman and CEO of Saraïde, Inc., a provider of wireless Internet and data services. He was also an early board member at Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq:ARBA), a pioneer in e-commerce software for enterprises. From 1986 to 1998, he was Chairman, President and CEO of VeriFone, Inc. (NYSE:VFI), a global leader in transaction automation systems for multiple retail segments. Prior to VeriFone, Mr. Tyabji spent 13 years at mainframe manufacturer Sperry Corporation, where he rose from a project manager to President of Information Systems. In addition to the chairing the Audit Committee, Mr. Tyabji serves on the Best Buy Board's Compensation and Human Resources Committee. His prior public company board experience includes Bank of America Merchant Services, Deluxe Corporation, eFunds, SmartDisk Corporation, Ariba and others. He has also served on the boards of numerous private companies and the Carnegie Institution for Science. Mr. Tyabji holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A. He is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program and received an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York. ###