MINC boosts toolset with Synario acquisition

Electronic News, Dec 15, 1997 by Ann Steffora

Colorado Springs, Colo.--Representing a new direction for the company as a full-fledged electronic design automation (EDA) vendor, MINC, Inc. announced its acquisition of most of the assets of the Synario Design Automation division of Data I/O Corp. in Redmond, Wash.

Under the terms of the agreement, for an undisclosed amount, MINC assumes all sales, distribution, software development and marketing of Synario. MINC also obtains source code for Synario, including ECS and ABEL, and rights to all trademarks; and its customer base. With the addition of the Synario employees, MINC now employs more than 100 people.

Although the agreement was actually completed in mid-November, Kevin Bush, VP of marketing at MINC, explained it was not announced immediately, so that all OEM partners could be contacted. This is due to MINC's products being primarily sold through OEMs, including Cadence Design Systems, Mentor Graphics, MicroSim, VeriBest and Compass Design Automation (now a unit of Avant!), as well as marketed by Synopsys. MINC is also an OEM supplier to Vantis (Advanced Micro Devices' programmable logic device business), Philips Semiconductor and Actel.

And because of MINC's heavy involvement in OEM relationships, the company lacked a strong sales channel, which it gains from Synario, along with a marketing staff. MINC also fleshes out its product line with the Synario purchase. MINC can now offer customers a complete design environment including simulation and synthesis (which MINC had) as well as schematic entry and design management, whereas previously MINC was strong in just a few areas, Mr. Bush said. Immediate goals include merging the product lines successfully, he added.

MINC will maintain its OEM relationships with Synopsys and Mentor for now; however, Mr. Bush admitted that MINC will swap out overlapping Synario products over the next several months, starting with Synario's synthesis tool.

MINC also announced in November Robert Jensen as the new CEO (EN, People in the News, Nov. 24), but Mr. Bush insisted the timing of the two announcements was coincidental. Mr. Jensen had been acting as CEO for a year; it just took MINC's board of directors this long to notice, Mr. Bush said. Mr. Jensen's accomplishments during the past year include restructuring and integrating MINC's Grenoble, France, operation with the company's corporate operations. Mr. Jensen also filled two key positions, VPs of engineering and of quality assurance, which MINC had sought to do for quite a while, Mr. Bush noted.

Mr. Jensen was also instrumental in retiring MINC's obligation to its venture capital funding and secured funding from Patricof & Associates and AMD last spring.

This acquisition represents a new direction in the company, especially with Mr. Jensen at the helm, who has a long history of involvement in acquisitions. Mr. Jensen's primary objective is to give value and liquidity to shareholders and MINC views the Synario acquisition as a great way to get there faster, Mr. Bush commented.

Bill Haydamack, former senior VP and GM of Synario, had already made plans to move on, but will stay throughout the acquisition process to help in the transition, Mr. Bush said.