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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Simplex Solutions announced its acquisition of privately held Snaketech S.A. on March 20, 2000. The deal added Snaketech’s substrate-noise modeling and analysis technology to Simplex’s electronic-design-automation portfolio; the announcement did not disclose a purchase price. It was a focused technology-and-talent acquisition, not a broad expansion into place-and-route software.
What Simplex acquired
Sunnyvale, California-based Simplex Solutions acquired Snaketech S.A., an EDA company based in Voiron, France, with an office in San Jose. EDN reported the announcement on March 20, 2000; Electronics Weekly reported that the agreement had closed. A share-purchase agreement records Simplex’s agreement to buy all outstanding Snaketech shares, but neither that record nor the announcement establishes a public headline price. EDN’s announcement and the share-purchase agreement document the transaction.
Why substrate analysis mattered
Snaketech’s central contribution was technology for substrate extraction and substrate-noise modeling and analysis in integrated-circuit verification, particularly for system-on-chip and mixed-signal designs. A chip’s silicon substrate is not an electrically invisible foundation: parasitic behavior and coupling can allow noise from one part of a design to affect another. That makes substrate effects relevant to circuit performance, power, signal integrity, and reliability.
The problem became more consequential as chips grew denser and more complex. In mixed-signal designs, analog and digital circuits share the same silicon, so switching activity in one region can disturb sensitive circuitry elsewhere. Substrate analysis helps designers account for these physical effects during verification. It complemented Simplex’s existing work in interconnect and transistor extraction and power analysis, broadening its deep-submicron physical-verification capabilities rather than shifting the company into synthesis or conventional place-and-route. EDN’s coverage of the deal and the period’s EDA consolidation describes that portfolio context.
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Electronics Weekly attributed to Simplex chief executive Penny Herscher a period claim that substrate effects could account for as much as 20% in large chip designs. That is an attributed statement from 2000, not a universal engineering constant or a figure that should be applied to modern chips generally. Electronics Weekly’s report gives the historical context.
What happened to Snaketech’s products
Substrate-analysis technology
EDN identified Snaketech’s substrate-noise product as LayIn and reported that Simplex planned to offer the technology as SubstrateStorm, initially as an option alongside products such as Fire & Ice and VoltageStorm. Other contemporaneous coverage described adding the capability to Simplex’s toolset and integrating the technology. These reports establish the plan at the time, not a definitive later product history; the safest conclusion is that Simplex intended to incorporate or rebrand the substrate technology within its portfolio. EDN’s contemporaneous product report covers the proposed naming and positioning.
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Place-and-route software
Snaketech also had a mixed-signal place-and-route tool, but that product was not the acquisition’s strategic centerpiece. Electronics Weekly said it would be de-emphasized; EDN described it as supported but not continued. The distinction matters: the deal was principally about substrate analysis and the people who developed it, not a commitment to maintain Snaketech’s full software portfolio. Electronics Weekly’s account describes the planned product treatment.
How Simplex integrated the team
Contemporaneous reports describe the Snaketech team joining Simplex and the French technical group remaining in France as a mixed-signal R&D operation led by co-founder Philippe Duchene. Snaketech’s San Jose office was to be merged with Simplex’s Sunnyvale headquarters. CEO Jim Behrens was named Simplex’s vice president of worldwide field operations, while other Snaketech principals were also assigned leadership roles.
The reported headcounts differ by scope: EDN said Simplex gained more than 25 employees, while Electronics Weekly referred to 20 R&D staff. The figures can describe different groups rather than conflict—the 20 were identified as French R&D staff, while the larger number appears to cover the workforce added overall. EDN’s announcement provides the personnel details.
The deal in the 2000 EDA market
Simplex’s purchase came amid consolidation among vendors addressing deep-submicron physical-design challenges. EDN discussed it alongside Frequency Technology’s acquisition of Sente, presenting both transactions as efforts to broaden portfolios for extraction, analysis, and optimization as chip complexity increased. The strategic logic was capability expansion in physical design and verification, not simply accumulating unrelated products.
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The transaction also brought an unusual set of industry connections into Simplex’s boardroom. Harvey Jones, formerly Synopsys CEO, was already a Simplex director. Joseph Costello, formerly Cadence’s president and CEO and a Snaketech board member, joined Simplex’s board after the acquisition. Their presence placed former leaders associated with major EDA rivals on the same board. EDN’s report covers both the broader consolidation and board appointments.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happened to Simplex afterward
Simplex later acquired Altius Solutions and Coyote Systems, then Cadence Design Systems acquired Simplex in June 2002. Cadence’s 2002 annual report put the aggregate consideration for that later acquisition at approximately $329.7 million, including stock, assumed options, and acquisition costs. That amount belongs to Cadence’s purchase of Simplex; it is not the price Simplex paid for Snaketech. Semiconductor Engineering’s company history summarizes Simplex’s later trajectory, and Cadence’s 2002 annual report records the later transaction.
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