Development of New IEEE Verilog Standard Reaches Major Milestone.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The IEEE SystemVerilog(R) Working Group has scheduled final balloting for the SystemVerilog standard by IEEE Standards Association corporate members for 22 February to 24 March. Called IEEE P1800(TM), the standard has been fast tracked within the IEEE Corporate Standards Program and is scheduled for completion in mid 2005, or about 12 months after it was begun.

IEEE P1800, "Standard for SystemVerilog Unified Hardware Design, Specification and Verification Language," will help industry address the growing complexity of very large-scale integrated circuits by raising productivity for their design, specification, simulation and verification. The new standard, an extension to the Verilog(R) hardware description language in IEEE 1364(TM), the predominant chip design language, adds many features including advanced design modeling, synthesis, hardware verification testbench and assertion language capabilities plus tighter C/C++ integration and co-simulation.

"IEEE P1800 will keep Verilog at the cutting edge of industry demands," says Johny Srouji, chair of the SystemVerilog Working Group. "The advanced language capabilities SystemVerilog offers will extend the basic Verilog language in the IEEE 1364 standard to aid in the design, synthesis, verification and product development of large-gate-count chips, as well as entire systems using a concise, common and integrated development language."

The working group is also revising the existing IEEE P1364, "Standard for Verilog Hardware Description Language," to correct ambiguities and minor errors. The updated version of this standard is also being readied for ballot by IEEE Standards Association corporate members. "Ultimately, we plan to merge the two standards into a single, comprehensive Verilog language specification, which will make chip development easier for the electronic design automation, semiconductor and system design communities," says Srouji.

Ballots for both IEEE P1800 SystemVerilog and IEEE P1364 will be held from 22 February through 24 March. A wide range of organizations have registered for these entity-based ballots. In terms of the IEEE P1800 ballot, 14 organizations have expressed their intent to participate: four users, six producers and four others.

The IEEE has been a primary source of design automation standards since the mid 1980s. Its IEEE 1364 Verilog standard has been a common language for integrated circuit development for more than a decade and has helped fuel the strong growth in this sector.

The SystemVerilog Working Group includes vendors that create Verilog-based products and users who apply the Verilog language. These organizations worked closely to identify and resolve a variety of technical issues while meeting the aggressive schedule set by the Working Group. The IEEE SystemVerilog standard is scheduled to be published on September 2005. It is sponsored by the Design Automation Standards Committee within the IEEE Computer Society and the IEEE Corporate Advisory Group. Additional information on SystemVerilog can be found at www.eda.org/sv-ieee1800.

About the IEEE Standards Association

The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting body, develops consensus standards through an open process that brings diverse parts of an industry together. These standards set specifications and procedures based on current scientific consensus. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of more than 870 completed standards and more than 400 standards in development. Over 15,000 IEEE members worldwide belong to IEEE-SA and voluntarily participate in standards activities. For information on IEEE-SA see: http://standards.ieee.org/.

Standards are developed within the IEEE-SA Corporate Program in company-based working groups in which each member has one vote. This industry-oriented program allows for standards creation in one to two years, depending on participant commitment and the use of IEEE support services. The program also provides a route to international acceptance for a standard based on the IEEE's broad ties to the international standards community. For information about its Corporate Standards Program, call [phone] or email [e-mail].

About the IEEE

The IEEE has more than 360,000 members in approximately 150 countries. Through its members, the organization is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace, computers and telecommunications to biomedicine, electric power and consumer electronics. The IEEE produces nearly 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering, computing and control technology fields. This nonprofit organization also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 technical conferences each year. Additional information about the IEEE can be found at http://www.ieee.org.

IEEE 1364 and IEEE 1800 are trademarks of the IEEE. All other names or product names mentioned above are the trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.