BNR choose ASICTEST as solution; strengthens LogicVision's leadership in ESTA.SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 1995--LogicVision today announced a multiple seat sale of its ASICTEST suite of test automation tools to Bell-Northern Research Bell-Northern Research (BNR) was one of the world's premier research and development organizations in telecommunications, jointly owned by Bell Canada and Nortel Networks (then known as Northern Telecom). (BNR BNR Bulgarian National Radio BNR Banca Nationala a României (National Bank of Romania) BNR Biological Nutrient Removal (sewage treatment) BNR Bell Northern Research BNR Body Not Recovered BNR Big Nerd Ranch ), the research and development subsidiary of Northern Telecom (Nortel). The sale reaffirms BNR's commitment to LogicVision for the development of advanced test tools and includes all members of the ASICTEST full-featured family: ICRAMBIST for built-in self-test A built-in self-test (BIST) mechanism within an integrated circuit (IC) is a function which verifies all or a portion of the internal functionality of the IC. For example, a BIST mechanism is provided in advanced fieldbus systems to verify functionality. of embedded random access memories; JTAGSYN for IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 1149.X test access port (TAP) and boundary scan See scan technology. boundary scan - The use of scan registers to capture state from device input and output pins. IEEE Standard 1149.1-1990 describes the international standard implementation (sometimes called JTAG after the Joint Test Action Group which began the , and ICSCANTEST for scan chain insertion, combinational ATPG ATPG Automatic Test Pattern Generation ATPG Automatic Test Program Generator and fault simulation. "Over the last few years, BNR has refocused its resources out of the ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. DFT DFT - discrete Fourier transform (Design For Test) tools business into system-level issues. As the basis of the LogicVision technology was originally licensed from BNR, and then enhanced by some of those who originally developed it, we anticipate the fit of LogicVision products to be cost effective and seamless," stated Terry Thomas, director, advanced system technology for Bell-Northern Research. Phil Pownall, senior manager, advanced system design technology at BNR, added, "BNR required a seamless transition for the literally hundreds of ASICs that we have developed with this technology. We are committed to using LogicVision's DFT tools to fulfill our requirements in this area." LogicVision is in a unique position with respect to its relationship with BNR. Dr. Vinod Agarwal, founder and president; Dr. Benoit Nadeau-Dostie, chief scientist; and Dwayne Burek, manager of product development, of LogicVision, were part of the team that architected and developed this technology during their 10 years of prior involvement with BNR. Since licensing the technology two and a half years ago, LogicVision has enhanced it dramatically, offering such innovations as the vertical integration of test automation into the fourth generation in test development (ESTA ESTA Electronic System for Travel Authorization (Department of Homeland Security) ESTA Entertainment Services and Technology Association ESTA Energy Systems Trade Association ESTA European Security Transport Association ) and the use of IEEE standard 1149.X to realize IC to PCB PCB: see polychlorinated biphenyl. PCB in full polychlorinated biphenyl Any of a class of highly stable organic compounds prepared by the reaction of chlorine with biphenyl, a two-ring compound. integration of test. "The longtime collaboration between Dr. Nadeau-Dostie, Mr. Burek and myself has allowed us to arrive at the conclusion that only through moving test to the front-end of the design process, at the behavioral or register transfer level (RTL (Register Transfer Level) A high-level hardware description language (HDL) for defining digital circuits. The circuits are described as a collection of registers, Boolean equations, control logic such as "if-then-else" statements as well as complex event sequences; ), can test automation be truly achieved," offered Agarwal. LogicVision is the first company to bring test automation products to market with production proven, fully hierarchical test automation technology. Whereas other companies offer test products still in the early evolutionary stages of test development (which LogicVision describes as Generation 1: functional vectors/test pattern generation; and Generation 2: automatic test pattern generation/scan insertion), LogicVision already offers products with superior integration at the Generation 3: front-end BIST/1149.X, and will soon offer products with hierarchical capabilities at the Generation 4: hierarchically integrated BIST/1149.X. LogicVision moves beyond Generation 2 test synthesis to allow test to be incorporated into the design cycle at the architectural phase and then flow throughout the cycle in an easy to use, transparent manner. LogicVision's test automation products provide both front-end and back-end In their most general meanings, the terms front end and back end refer to the initial and the end stages of a process flow. These terms acquire more special meanings in particular areas. capabilities to span the hierarchy from system to IC level, and from behavioral to gate. ASICTEST combines Generation 3 and Generation 2 capabilities and affords the user a logical migration to future advanced test automation products such as LogicVision's ICBIST, a Generation 3 product that will be released shortly and is currently at multiple beta sites. Adoption by BNR of ASICTEST and future releases only further validates LogicVision's plan for Electronic Systems Test Automation (ESTA) software. ESTA is a hierarchical integration and automation of Built-In Self Test Built-in Self Test - (BIST) The technique of designing circuits with additional logic which can be used to test proper operation of the primary (functional) logic. (BIST BIST - Built-in Self Test ) and 1149.X at the gate, RT and behavioral levels, and covers ICs, PCBs and systems as a whole. This is the form of testing that provides near complete automation of all test related steps in the design flow. ESTA offers an integrated approach to testing with reuse of test data and test structures, transparency in the design flow and productivity improvements. LogicVision coined this term to describe this next evolutionary stage of manufacturing test and test automation methodology. "LogicVision's ESTA methodology differs sharply from back-end test companies who have gained access to BNR's patents and technology such as ScanBIST," stated Patrick Scoggin, vice president of sales and marketing. "Access to the technology is only the first step. To commercially develop and take full advantage of this technology, you also have to have the understanding and the people. Only LogicVision has all three," he concluded. LogicVision was founded in 1992 by Agarwal, with the mandate to create the industry leader in Electronic System Test Automation (ESTA). Recognized as a worldwide expert in the digital test field, Agarwal collaborated with Bell-Northern Research, the research and development subsidiary of Northern Telecom (Nortel), from which LogicVision secured a license for DFT (Design For Test) and BIST software and proprietary test technology. The company has the personnel, the knowledge, the technology and tools that make it a true provider of comprehensive BNR technology. Bell-Northern Research (BNR), the research and development subsidiary of Northern Telecom (Nortel), is a world leader in designing and developing advanced telecommunication systems, and operates or supports facilities in seven countries. For more information on LogicVision, please contact Patrick Scoggin, vice president of sales and marketing, LV Software Inc., 1735 N. First Street, Suite 306, San Jose, Calif., 95112; 408/453-0146, fax 408/453-0150. -0- Note to Editors: ASICTEST, ICRAMBIST, JTAGSYN, ICSCANTEST and ICBIST are trademarks of LV Software Inc. LogicVision is a registered trademark of LV Software Inc. CONTACT: LogicVision Patrick Scoggin, 408/453-0146 Interim Communications Michael Zeglin, 408/287-7980 |
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