Axis Delivers Co-Verification Solution for ARM-Powered Embedded System Designs.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2001

Hardware and Software Developers of ARM Core-Based Embedded System 

Designs Gain Debugging Ease Coupled With Fast, Accurate Verification

Axis Systems Inc. Monday announced the integration of Axis' ReConfigurable Computing technology with the ARM7(TM) and ARM9(TM) family processor models and software debugging environment.

The new hardware-software co-verification solution is faster, more accurate, and easier to use than other products on the market. Axis worked closely with ARM ((LSE:ARM); (Nasdaq:ARMHY)), the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC processor technology, to develop this solution.

The new product is a special option package that integrates the ARM(R) processors and debugging environment with Xpert(TM), Axis' new hardware/software co-verification product for system-on-chip (SoC) and embedded system designers (see announcement June 11, 2001).

"We created the partnership with ARM to eliminate the bottleneck that currently exists in system verification," said Mike Tsai, president and CEO of Axis. "Our goal with Xpert is to reduce time-to-market in two ways: first, by enabling the entire SoC design team to collaborate and communicate, and second, by providing the best verification tools in the world."

"In the past, designers had either good debugging tools on slow software simulators that sacrificed accuracy, or poor debugging tools on fast emulation systems," said Steve Wang, vice president of marketing at Axis. "Since today's design teams consist of both hardware and software designers, Axis and ARM created a solution that gives everyone on the design team all that they need: fast, accurate verification and a great debugging environment."

With more than 50 tapeouts to date, Axis' patented, proven ReConfigurable Computing (RCC) technology has demonstrated significant improvements in debug efficiency for hardware designers. A key advantage of RCC is the ability to directly connect the ARM co-verification models to the Axis emulator from within the co-verification environment. This gives SoC design teams much higher performance and greater accuracy than other products on the market. Other co-verification solutions have had to rely on third-party software simulators, which are orders of magnitude slower than RCC. Those solutions use memory optimizations to compensate for slow software simulation, which results in a loss of verification accuracy.

Xpert extends RCC to software designers for more powerful embedded software debugging capabilities, and enables them to debug embedded system software before hardware prototypes are available.

"Xpert provides our Partners with a virtual prototype so they can debug software before the chips are back from the fab," said Tim Hopes, engineering manager, Development Systems, ARM. "Xpert will reduce the time-to-market for system-on-chip designs that are based on ARM cores."

Xpert also facilitates collaboration between hardware and software engineers. For example, Xpert provides a quick way to correlate source code to simulation timestamps, enabling both hardware and software engineers to communicate in their own language.

"Software designers typically are not in the hardware design loop, and hardware designers rarely communicate with the software team," said Jason Andrews, product manager at Axis Systems. "Xpert improves communication by providing a common platform for hardware and software execution and debugging."

RCC provides speed, accuracy, and debugging ease because the technology combines software simulation, accelerated simulation, system emulation and hardware/software co-verification on a single platform and with one design database.

Pricing and Availability

Xpert is priced at US$45,000 and is compatible with both the Xcite and Xtreme systems from Axis. It includes a license for the Xsim simulator, which enables co-verification before the hardware design is ready for RCC or when RCC is running higher priority simulations. The special option package, which includes the ARM processor models and accompanying software debuggers, is available this month from Axis. Contact Axis for pricing information.

About Axis Systems

Axis Systems Inc. offers high-performance verification platforms for the hardware and software development of complex electronic system and system-on-a-chip designs. Axis' products help increase confidence in new designs, improve overall verification productivity and shorten time to market. On a single platform and with one design database, Axis' patented ReConfigurable Computing (RCC) technology provides software simulation, accelerated simulation, system emulation and hardware/software co-verification. Axis' verification products go "way beyond fast" -- they not only run fast, but also help customers identify and isolate bugs in a design faster than any other tool on the market. Customers include the world's leading networking and multimedia companies. Axis has headquarters at 209 Java Drive, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94089. To learn more about Axis, visit www.axiscorp.com.

ARM and ARM Powered are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. ARM7 and ARM9 are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc (LSE: ARM and Nasdaq:ARMHY); its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM, INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan. Xpert, Xcite, and Xtreme are trademarks of Axis Systems Inc.