Synthesis software is optimised for Stratix III

Synplicity has upgraded its industry-leading Synplify Pro FPGA synthesis and Synplify DSP true DSP Synthesis software to support Altera Corp's new low-power, high-performance Stratix III FPGAs.

Synplicity has upgraded its industry-leading Synplify Pro FPGA synthesis and Synplify DSP true DSP synthesis software to support Altera Corp's new low-power, high-performance Stratix III FPGAs.

Optimisations to these tools allow designers to achieve aggressive system performance requirements and time to market goals, while simultaneously minimising area.

Synplicity's Synplify Pro software, the industry's most widely used FPGA synthesis solution, utilises a true timing-driven approach to synthesis.

The software takes designs written in VHDL or Verilog as input, and compiles, optimises and maps them into efficient, high-performance netlists for the new Stratix III devices.

In addition, the Synplify Pro software generates constraints in SDC format, which can be passed to Altera's Quartus II design software for placement and routing.

DSP designers using the new Stratix III devices will benefit from a complete DSP algorithm to implementation flow by using Synplicity's ESL for DSP tool, Synplify DSP, and the Synplify Pro synthesis software.

The flow supports DSP design at multiple levels of abstraction while providing industry-leading synthesis and optimisation technologies that map to the new DSP resources in Stratix III FPGAs, allowing users to achieve a much faster time to market, a more reliable design flow and higher performance/cost for their end-products.

"As part of our long-standing relationship with Synplicity, we provide early access to new device architectures enabling them to optimise their software so that our mutual customers have immediate access to best-in-class tools for our devices", said Danny Biran, Altera's Vice President of Product and Corporate Marketing.

"Synplicity supports Altera's goal of allowing our customers to design with confidence, knowing that they have the tools necessary to achieve the best possible performance while quickly bringing their end systems to market".

"One of the attractive features of the new Stratix III family is the application-optimised device options that are available to designers, including versions targeted for DSP applications", said Andy Haines, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Synplicity.

"We believe that our long-standing partnership with Altera allows users of these new devices to expect immediate access to design tools that provide the best possible performance for their high-density designs".

Designed on the 65nm node, Altera's new high-end Stratix III FPGAs are the industry's lowest-power, highest-performing FPGA devices.

The Stratix III family is designed to deliver 50% lower power, 25% higher performance and twice the density of its Stratix II predecessor, and is available in three family variants - a logic-optimised family, an enhanced-feature family with more memory and DSP blocks and a family with integrated multigigabit transceivers.

The Synplify Pro software, offering support for Stratix III devices, is available now.

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