Another month, another complimentary EDA acquisition. Forte is well-known for C synthesis and Arithmatica offers datapath synthesis. This combination has a good chance of success because:
1) Complimentary tools
2) Clear management structure (Dan Ganousis leads the US Sales team)
3) Egos checked at the door
4) Friendly acquisition
My only concerns are the time-zone differences between the UK and US teams which create a challenge for the company to feel part of one team, and really buy-in to the unified vision.
Ron Wilson has a good write up on this deal.
Daniel – I am not sure why you think the distance is a problem. Take a look at Jasper. They have engineering teams in Sweden, Brazil and the US. They too are a small company and it is working for them. These days it is more important to be where the talent is, rather than expecting the talent to come to you.
Brian,
I’ve been at EDA companies that merged and the time-zone difference also equated to a culture difference, eventually “us and them”, it can be a disaster. With mergers in general the success rate is < 20%, meaning that within a few years they have more revenues together than apart.