Carbon Extends Product Line to Accelerate Verification Regression; DesignPlayer Boosts Performance for S3 Graphics by 10X.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2004 Carbon Design Systems -- a fast moving EDA (1) (Electronic Design Automation) Using the computer to design, lay out, verify and simulate the performance of electronic circuits on a chip or printed circuit board. company that reduces the time-to-profit for chip and systems companies by enabling pre-silicon system validation -- today announced enhancements to its DesignPlayer(TM) software that allow it to be seamlessly plugged into hardware regression environments, be driven by a variety of testbenches, and provide a 10X or greater performance gain over current solutions. "Carbon's technology improved our regression performance by a factor of 10X over current simulators," commented Michael Shiuan, VP of Engineering at S3 Graphics. DesignPlayer improves regression performance for verification environments, which may include standard testbenches such as: Vera, Verisity, transaction-level, behavioral Verilog, C, C++, and SystemC. In addition, DesignPlayer adds interoperability The capability of two or more hardware devices or two or more software routines to work harmoniously together. For example, in an Ethernet network, display adapters, hubs, switches and routers from different vendors must conform to the Ethernet standard and interoperate with each other. with popular simulators including those from Cadence cadence, in music, the ending of a phrase or composition. In singing the voice may be raised or lowered, or the singer may execute elaborate variations within the key. and Synopsys. "With this release, Carbon is building on its fundamental values of performance, accuracy, and broad applicability," said Steve Butler Steve Butler (born September 26, 1956 in Amarillo, Texas) was an open-wheel racer who was successful in USAC Sprint Car and Silver Crown racing. Steve currently resides in Kokomo, IN. , president and chief executive officer at Carbon. "Carbon can now be used across the board for early stage hardware regression, pre-silicon software validation The certification that an information system has been implemented correctly and that it conforms to the functional specifications derived from the original requirements. Such validation is often performed by a third party consulting organization. , and complete system validation." Carbon's DesignPlayer is a cycle and register accurate runtime model of a chip or IP (intellectual property) core compiled directly from 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; . Software drivers, diagnostics, and firmware A category of memory chips that hold their content without electrical power. Firmware includes flash, ROM, PROM, EPROM and EEPROM technologies. When holding program instructions, firmware can be thought of as "hard software." See flash memory, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM and FOTA. can be validated up to 50X faster on Carbon's DesignPlayer engine compared to an event-based simulator (1) Software that enables the execution of an application written for a different computer environment. Same as emulator. (2) Software that models the interactions of hypothetical or real-world objects or business processes. . Carbon's new release extends DesignPlayer into hardware verification regression environments in multiple ways. What's New -- DesignPlayer Addresses Verification Regression Engineers that apply behavioral Verilog, Vera, or Verisity-based testbenches in a simulation regression environment improve their performance by simply plugging in an optimized DesignPlayer to replace their RTL model. This release allows DesignPlayer engines to plug-and-play with popular simulators including Cadence Incisive incisive /in·ci·sive/ (-si´siv) 1. having the power or quality of cutting. 2. pertaining to the incisor teeth. in·ci·sive adj. 1. Having the power to cut. and Synopsys VCS (1) (Verilog Computer Simulator) See Verilog. (2) (Version Control System) See version control. . Verification teams using DesignPlayer with C, C++, or transaction-level testbenches (without a simulator) can achieve a 10-20X regression performance boost over RTL simulation, while maintaining cycle and register accuracy. Designers that use SystemC to simulate fast abstract models of their design early in the development cycle, face a daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin simulation performance problem as RTL implementation models are substituted for their abstract counterparts. Simulation performance -- when it's needed most -- drops tremendously. DesignPlayer now sports an automatically generated SystemC interface to allow it to be instantiated in a SystemC environment and provide an immediate 10-20X performance increase, without losing accuracy. Pricing and Availability Carbon's DesignPlayer products are shipping now with pricing based on an annual subscription volume model. DesignPlayer engines used for development are under $10,000 per seat for high volume purchases, while IP distribution versions approach $1000 per seat. About Carbon Carbon is delivering software products that enable pre-silicon system validation, where thousands of users can simultaneously develop and test software on the 'golden' RTL hardware implementation model. For the first time, critical foundation software -- drivers, diagnostics, and firmware -- runs at KHz execution speed on the 'golden' model with cycle and register accuracy. This opens the door for system validation and IP deployment to begin much earlier than traditional methods. Carbon Design Systems, Inc. is privately held and funded by Matrix Partners, Flagship Ventures, and Commonwealth Capital. The corporate headquarters is located at 375 Totten Pond Road, Suite 100/200, Waltham, MA. 02451. Telephone: 781.890.1500, Facsimile: 781.890.1711, Email: info@carbondesignsystems.com, Website: www.carbondesignsystems.com Carbon Design Systems and DesignPlayer are trademarks of Carbon Design Systems, Incorporated. All other companies and products referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion