Raytheon to use Compass packs

Electronic News, Dec 2, 1991

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Raytheon Co. has signed a four-year licensing agreement to use Compass Dessgn Automation's integrated design software, library development software and portable sub-micron libraries. Insiders said the deal is worth some $5 million.

Compass has already shipped packages to Raytheon, said Compass, adding that the agreement could lead to future purchases by Raytheon.

Under the agreement, Raytheon's systems and semiconductor divisions worldwide will have access to Compass' full line of ASIC design tools. The software suite includes capabilities for developing 0.8-micron libraries, compilers, gate arrays and cell-based ASIC components. Officials said Raytheon will fabricate these semiconductors at its Advance Device Center in Andover, Mass.

James V. DiLorenzo, general manager of the center, said the agreement "allows us to produce submicron integrated circuits more quickly for internal, military and other high-tech applications." Raytheon will use Compass library development tools to automate the complex building, characterizing, documenting and managing of its growing submicron libraries, said Compass.

Compass said the agreement is the first between Compass and Raytheon, although Raytheon has had other agreements with VLSI Technology Inc., Compass' parent company. A spokeswoman for Compass said two other "very large Eda (electronic design automation) companies already have seats at Raytheon, so this was a big win for us to establish some seats there." Those companies weren't identified.

Taylor Scanlon, vice president of North American operations for Compass, said that after an extensive evaluation Raytheon chose the Compass tools over those of other EDA companies primarily because of the degree of integration available.

"The most important point was tools integration," said Mr. Scanlon. "Raytheon has a large internal CAD effort, and they were finding for the last couple of years that they spent most of their time in integration. When they saw that we had a front-to-back tool-set already integrated by ourselves, that outweighed the other tool choices."

Mr. Scanlon said other factors were also involved, including the ease of use of the system. "This selection constitutes a major change within Raytheon, so it had to be easy to use and learn," he said, adding that another factor was the inclusion of certain silicon libraries and compilers not offered by other EDA vendors.

Compass will also provide Raytheon with custom test capabilities that support technology developed by CrossCheck Technology of San Jose, Calif., which previously licensed its design-for-testability scheme to Raytheon. Compass will develop software tools to enable Raytheon to incorporate CrossCheck test structures in its gate array bases. In addition, Compass will customize its test program generation software to interface directly with Raytheon's own testers.