Virtutech Develops First Simulation Model of Freescale's MPC8641D Dual-Core Embedded Processor Before Silicon Availability.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Virtutech's Simulation Model Accelerates Development of Software for MPC8641D Processor-Based Systems and Drives Products' Ramp to Volume

Virtutech, Inc., the leading provider of full system simulation technology for the development and testing of software for advanced electronic systems, today announced the availability of the first simulation model of the Freescale MPC8641D dual-core processor containing two PowerPC(R) cores. This unique simulation model enables the development of software for MPC8641D processor-based systems before the silicon is available, enabling systems to be ready for immediate shipment once production volumes are available.

Freescale Semiconductor's MPC8641D processor is a dual-core, high-performance processor for embedded networking, telecom, military, storage and pervasive computing applications. Developing code for a multicore processor introduces new levels of complexity associated with the inherent parallelism and locking requirements. But Simics' ability to simulate multicore processors such as the MPC8641D provides a clean platform for development since it runs unchanged production binaries, is fully deterministic and is more controllable than the real chip. Furthermore, Simics Hindsight enables reverse execution and debugging of a multi-threaded program on both cores simultaneously.

"One challenge in bringing a new semiconductor product to market is to enable customers and partners to develop software before silicon is available. Simulation offers an effective way to fill this gap," said Toby Foster, dual-core system architect for Freescale's Digital Systems Division. "Virtutech's simulation model for the MPC8641D shrinks time-to-production for our customers and for third-party partners."

Wind River, the global leader in device software optimization (DSO), is now using this simulation model in its engineering department for development of multicore versions of its products. "By using Virtutech Simics, Wind River has been able to accelerate the development of its products for the MPC8641D," says Tomas Evensen, chief technology officer, Wind River. "With this simulation model, our engineers not only have pre-silicon access to chips, they can tap into Simics' unique debugging tool, Hindsight, to move forward and backward in the code with the ability to stop at any point. This ability dramatically increases our developers' productivity while simultaneously improving our multicore products' quality."

"Multicore debugging is an enormous new challenge for software developers, as our server customers discovered in the last few years, and will be especially difficult for embedded software developers," said Peter S. Magnusson, founder and chief technology officer, Virtutech. "Simulation brings not only the capability to run code before silicon exists but also has many compelling advantages once it is available since it is so much more observable and controllable."

About Virtutech

Virtutech, Inc. is the leading provider of full-system simulation for advanced software development. Virtutech's Simics is a revolutionary, award-winning simulator that provides a programmer-friendly environment for testing and debugging embedded software. Simics eliminates software developers' dependence on test hardware and drives concurrent development, enabling its customers to lower capital expenditure, accelerate time-to-market and reduce project risk. Based on more than a decade of R&D and close collaboration with leading universities and systems vendors, Virtutech's technology serves the needs of the world's leading technology providers, including Cisco, EMC, Ericsson, Honeywell, IBM and Sun Microsystems.

Virtutech is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. For more information, visit www.virtutech.com or e-mail [e-mail].