SDA Systems Inc, San Jose, California developer and marketer of software for automating design of integrated circuits, has won a pair of powerful international customers for its products, Toshiba Ltd of Japan, and the Innovative Silicon Technology affiliate of SGS SpA in Milan, Italy: it has signed three-year agreements with each, and Toshiba, now world number two in chips, will use the software as the basic element for building next-generation computer-aided design systems, while Innovative Silicon, a dedicated applications-specific integrated circuit shop, will develop CAD systems based on SDA software for use by its ASIC customers; key to SDA’s technology is the Design Framework nucleus for of a complete circuit design system, built around a unified database; SDA’s early product development was supported by equity financing from National Semiconductor Corp, Harris Corp, GE Co and L M Ericsson AB.
