NetSpeed Systems is a San Jose, California-based provider of system-on-chip design tools and interconnect fabric intellectual property.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

NetSpeed's highly configurable and synthesizable offerings will help Intel more quickly and cost-effectively design, develop and test new SoCs with an ever-increasing set of IP. As SoCs grow more complex and as new fabrication processes explode the number of design rules, architects are increasingly utilizing front-end tools like NetSpeed's to automate the design and validation process - ' saving time and money. NetSpeed's technology helps architects estimate and optimize SoC performance in advance of manufacturing through a system-level approach, user-driven automation and state-of-the-art algorithms.

The NetSpeed team is joining Intel's Silicon Engineering Group (SEG) led by Jim Keller. NetSpeed co-founder and CEO, Sundari Mitra, will continue to lead her team as an Intel vice president reporting to Keller.

Intel expects to honor NetSpeed's existing customer contracts, but NetSpeed will become an internal asset going forward.