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Cloud-Native Architecture and Its Role in Chip Design

Gurbir Singh

Jul 24, 2022 / 3 min read

Synopsys Cloud

Unlimited access to EDA software licenses on-demand

Perhaps you¡¯ve heard your colleagues discussing cloud-native architecture, and you¡¯ve wondered what the term means. In this post, we answer the following questions: What is cloud-native architecture, and why does it matter for your chip design and verification work?

Cloud-native computing is an approach in software that allows organizations to create scalable applications. These applications run in public, private, and hybrid cloud environments. Containers, immutable infrastructure, microservices, service meshes, and declarative APIs all demonstrate cloud-native approaches. Cloud-native architecture combines methodologies from cloud services, DevOps practices, and software development principles. The approach abstracts IT layers from networking, servers, data centers, operating systems, and firewalls. Applications built on cloud-native architecture deliver scale and performance while offering faster time to market.

Foundation of Cloud-Native Architecture

Cloud-native architecture rests on six foundational elements:

 

1. Cloud infrastructure. Cloud-native architecture takes full advantage of cloud computing infrastructure and managed services to thrive in a dynamic, virtualized environment. With automation, the underlying infrastructure becomes disposable. Within minutes, it can be provisioned, resized, scaled, or destroyed on demand.

 

2. Microservices. Cloud-native systems use microservices, a popular architecture for building modern apps. These services are small and independent, interacting through a shared fabric. They share the following features:

  • Implementation of a specific element within a broader domain
  • Independent development and deployment
  • Self-contained storage technology, dependencies, and programming platform
  • Autonomy over their processes
  • Interactions through HTTP/HTTPS, gRPC, WebSockets, or AMQP

  

3. Modern design. The 12-factor application is a widely accepted modern design method. Developers follow these principles and practices to create optimized applications for cloud environments. They pay attention to portability across different platforms and automation. Many practitioners consider 12-factor an excellent foundation for building cloud-native apps. With these principles, systems can scale and deploy efficiently while adding new features to quickly react to the market.

Foundation of Cloud-Native Architecture | Synopsys Cloud

4. Containers. Containers offer portability and consistency across environments. It¡¯s simple to containerize a microservice. Container images combine code, dependencies, and runtime into one package. The images go in a container registry, which acts as a library or repository. Registries can live on your development computer, your data center, or the cloud.

 

5. Backing services. Cloud-native systems depend upon many ancillary resources known as backing services. These resources include security services, analytics, distributed caching, message brokers, relational and document databases, streaming and storage services, and monitoring.

 

6. Automation. You can automate platform deployment and application provisioning with infrastructure as code. Software engineering practices like testing and versioning are applied to DevOps. Deployments and infrastructure are automated, consistent, and repeatable.

How Cloud-Native Architecture Can Improve Chip Design

Most of today¡¯s electronic design automation (EDA) tools run on-premises. Still, the most significant value for EDA vendors and customers is cloud-native software, which leverages the cloud's capabilities, including the larger cloud ecosystem.

Chip design teams can use software tools from across the EDA ecosystem simultaneously to work on multiple steps. Cloud-native tools let organizations break down the silos between research and development, design, development teams, and consumers by eliminating storage and compute constraints.

Synopsys is a step ahead of its competitors. We currently offer cloud-native EDA tools, pre-optimized hardware platforms, a flexible business model, and a modern customer experience. We¡¯ve reimagined chip design in the cloud so it won¡¯t disrupt existing workflows. You can run chip design and verification projects faster with limitless computing power and flexible deployment options.

Synopsys, EDA, and the Cloud

Synopsys is the industry¡¯s largest provider of electronic design automation (EDA) technology used in the design and verification of semiconductor devices, or chips. With Synopsys Cloud, we¡¯re taking EDA to new heights, combining the availability of advanced compute and storage infrastructure with unlimited access to EDA software licenses on-demand so you can focus on what you do best ¨C designing chips, faster. Delivering cloud-native EDA tools and pre-optimized hardware platforms, an extremely flexible business model, and a modern customer experience, Synopsys has reimagined the future of chip design on the cloud, without disrupting proven workflows.

 

Take a Test Drive!

Synopsys technology drives innovations that change how people work and play using high-performance silicon chips. Let Synopsys power your innovation journey with cloud-based EDA tools. Sign up to try Synopsys Cloud for free!


About The Author

Gurbir Singh is group director, Cloud Engineering, at Synopsys. He has a demonstrated history of leadership in the software industry. In his current role, he leads the development of the Synopsys Cloud product, which enables customers to do chip design on the cloud using EDA-as-a-Service (SaaS) as well as flexible pay-per-use models. Gurbir has run organizations to develop cloud SaaS products, machine learning applications, AI/ML platforms, enterprise web applications, and high-end customer applications. He is experienced in building world- class technology teams. Gurbir has a master¡¯s degree in computer science, along with patents and contributions to publications.

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