ARM takes over Obsidian Software

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ARM has flexed its muscles in the acquisition market by picking up Obsidian Software.

The Cambridge, UK-based processor firm has snapped up the Austin, Texas company for an undisclosed sum to push forward with developing higher performance chips.

Obsidian has been offering processor testing and verification products since 1997 when it was founded by three former members of AMD. It has since made its name with its RAVEN (Random Architecture Verification Engine) software and been used as the verification tool for a number of mobile devices.

ARM has been working with Obsidian since using its software to develop the Cortex A8 chip, used in smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S.

"Obsidian Software 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."

Obsidian's verification team will be swallowed up into ARM’s counterpart division, but they will remain based in Texas rather than Cambridge.

Mike Inglis, general manager and executive vice president of the processor division at ARM, concluded: "The technology and people that will come with this acquisition are a significant addition to our capabilities in maximising quality and reducing time to market of ARM-processor-based SoCs (System on Chip)."

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