Synopsys Integrates Solution-Soft's Advanced GDSII and MEBES Compression Solutions with CATS

Combined Technology Can Read, Write and Provide On-The-Fly View of Compressed Files

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 2 — PRNewswire-FirstCall -- Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS - News), a world leader in semiconductor design software and SolutionSoft Systems, Inc. (Solution-Soft), a global leader in virtual clock and time travel testing solutions today announced the general release of Solution-Soft's GDSII and MEBES format data compression technologies as part of Synopsys' CATS® mask data preparation software, the most advanced, full-featured solution available for semiconductor photomask manufacturing.

The seamless integration of GDSII and MEBES data compression technology with CATS software enables designers to read, write and view gdzip and mezip compression files on-the-fly without having to decompress them on disk. This saves online and offline storage costs and network bandwidth while increasing transfer speed and reliability. In addition, with file sizes reaching the terabyte level, these new technologies will help customers to improve their overall processing times.

The gdzip and mezip compressed format has achieved widespread popularity in the semiconductor industry with TSMC, UMC, Chartered Semiconductor, SMIC, Hejian and Tower Semiconductor all supporting this format for their customers' tape-outs worldwide.

"The Tape-out Operations group at Xilinx has been using Solution-Soft's MEBES and GDSII compression tools for several years. With the read and write capability of compressed files now integrated with Synopsys' CATS fracture software, this solution eases our manufacturing preparation burden. Now that we don't have to uncompress files, especially the large MEBES files, we gain a great convenience and a considerable productivity enhancement, as well as save additional investments into infrastructure like file storage servers," said Dr. Wolfgang J. Leitermann, senior manager, Tape-out Operations at Xilinx. "Other advantages are faster transfer time of files to our foundry partners overseas and faster restore times from the archive."

"Solution-Soft recognized the challenge faced by the industry to transfer, manipulate and store the exponentially increasing IC design and fractured files," said Paul Wang, president of Solution-Soft. "In response, we developed the breakthrough compressors gdzip and mezip for the industry standard GDSII and MEBES formats. The combination of Synopsys' CATS software with Solution-Soft's compression technology will give our mutual customers unmatched efficiency in data processing and archiving, will reduce transfer time, and will offer a smaller storage footprint."

"The gdzip and mezip compressors deliver an order of magnitude better compression and smaller files than generic compression tools," said Dr. J. Tracy Weed, director of Product Marketing, Synopsys DFM Products. "The ability to view GDSII and MEBES compressed files while leaving them compressed on disks provides a new enabling capability to the industry which can deliver considerable time and storage savings to customers during their photomask data preparation cycle."

About DFM

Synopsys' Design-For-Manufacturing (DFM) solution reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of EDA by identifying and addressing manufacturing problems early in the design process, all the way from place and route through to physical verification (RET -- resolution enhancement technology), mask optimization and process tuning (TCAD). CATS software is a member of Synopsys' DFM product family. It is the most advanced and fully featured data preparation software available for semiconductor photomask manufacturing, including applications for inspection, metrology and for direct-write-on-wafer. The full suite of Synopsys' DFM products include PSM phase shift technology, Proteus mask synthesis, CATS mask data preparation, SiVL® lithography verification, i-Virtual Stepper™ mask inspection verification and TCAD physics-based simulation products.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. is a world leader in EDA software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading semiconductor design and verification platforms and IC manufacturing software products to the global electronics market, enabling the development and production of complex systems-on-chips (SoCs). Synopsys also provides intellectual property and design services to simplify the design process and accelerate time-to-market for its customers. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in more than 60 locations throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at www.synopsys.com.

Solution-Soft, gdzip and mezip are trademarks of SolutionSoft Systems, Inc. Synopsys, CATS and SiVL are registered trademarks of Synopsys Inc. i-Virtual Stepper is a trademark of Synopsys Inc. Any other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

About Solution-Soft

The Leader in Virtual Clock and Time Travel Testing Solutions

Since 1997, Solution-Soft has been at the forefront of virtual clock software and time travel testing solutions, empowering organizations in the ever-evolving digital world. Our flagship product, Time Machine, has revolutionized application testing, enabling thousands of companies, including 47 of the Fortune 100 US companies, to reduce costs and accelerate project delivery by an average of 3 – 10 times across traditional systems and containerized applications.

The Time Machine Product Suite extends these capabilities, optimizing cloud migration, test automation, Agile/DevOps, and containerization testing. Our latest innovation, Time Machine for Containers, supports standalone Docker containers and large-scale Kubernetes and OpenShift clusters (including a 16,000+ CPU core, 1,300+ namespace deployments).

Trusted by over 2,000 customers worldwide across diverse industries (including 3M, AMEX, BBC, Boeing, and more) and partnered with industry leaders like Accenture, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat, Solution-Soft, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, provides cutting-edge solutions for your time-sensitive testing needs. Learn more at www.solution-soft.com or call +1.408.346.1400.

© Copyright 1993-2025 Solution-Soft and Time Machine are registered trademarks of SolutionSoft Systems, Inc. All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners.