OpenAccess Coalition Releases Source Code Roadmap and Announces OpenConnect Program for Design Technology Interoperability
Cadence Offers its Source Code to the Industry to Improve IC Design Productivity
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2002--
The OpenAccess Coalition, a group of top electronics companies
focused on creating a standard for true interoperability among
integrated circuit (IC) design tools, today released the OpenAccess
source code roadmap, and announced OpenConnect, a program to encourage
third-party development with OpenAccess. OpenAccess, based on the
Genesis database developed by Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN - news),
is the industry's first open, standard database. The database will
enable the building of a truly interoperable infrastructure for
electronic design technology.
"OpenAccess is a big step toward industry-wide design tool
interoperability," said Scott Peterson, director silicon optimization
at LSI Logic Corporation and chairman of the OpenAccess Coalition.
"LSI Logic and the OpenAccess Coalition are encouraged that today's
release of the OpenAccess source code will continue to drive the
momentum surrounding the OpenAccess movement."
The availability of an open, industry-standard database will
accelerate time to market for electronics companies, lower integration
costs for designers and enable application developers to focus on
creating innovative products. The OpenAccess database is engineered
for high capacity and high performance to address the challenges
resulting from the smaller geometries and greater design complexities
of today's ICs.
"The latest announcement demonstrates the commitment to a true
open standard by releasing to everyone the source code to a database,"
said Greg Spirakis, vice president of mobile platforms and director
design technology at Intel and chairman of the Design Technology
Council. "No one has done this before, and it was a key requirement of
the coalition. In addition, the OpenAccess Coalition realizes the need
to build on the existing base of interest, and that's where the
OpenConnect program should make a big difference."
OpenAccess Source Code Roadmap
The OpenAccess Coalition and Cadence® have reached an agreement,
which includes a targeted timeline to make the OpenAccess source code
publicly available through an online collaborative channel,
www.OpenEDA.org, as follows:
- July 2001 - Released OpenAccess version 1 application
programming interface (API) specification and binaries
- February 4, 2002 - Cadence released OpenAccess version 1
source code along with a refreshed set of matching binaries to
the OpenAccess Coalition (OpenAccess version 1 source code is
intended primarily for proof-of-concept purposes, training and
for gaining familiarity with data models)
- February 4, 2002 - OpenAccess version 1 source code available
to the community at large
- February 2002 - Cadence will release the OpenAccess version 2
API reference document to the OpenAccess Coalition
- April 8, 2002 (at the OpenAccess Conference) - OpenAccess
version 2 API reference document will be available on
OpenEDA.org
- Second quarter of 2002 - Cadence will release to the
OpenAccess Coalition a major incremental version of
next-generation code suitable for exploratory development on
the OpenAccess version 2 database
- Fourth quarter 2002 - Cadence will release to the OpenAccess
Coalition the OpenAccess version 2 database code including the
entire implementation and infrastructure needed to create
database programs
- Early first quarter 2003 - OpenAccess version 2 binaries and
source code will be available to the community at large
OpenAccess version 2 has been specifically architected for
development and use in a heterogeneous application environment. To
promote the establishment of a single interoperable API and avoid
higher migration and support costs, the OpenAccess Coalition and
Cadence recommend that organizations use today's release of OpenAccess
version 1 source code for proof-of-concept, training and familiarity
with data models. (The OpenAccess version 1 API will not be upwardly
compatible with the OpenAccess version 2 API.)
To support development and migration, and enable interoperability,
Cadence will offer a program of contract services and toolkits for
moving from OpenAccess version 1 to OpenAccess version 2. OpenAccess
version 2, the official OpenAccess database, will accelerate the EDA
developer's time-to-revenue for innovative, interoperable products and
will reduce development costs.
"Lack of design tool interoperability causes major product
development bottlenecks for the electronics industry," said Lavi Lev,
executive vice president and general manager, Cadence IC solutions
business. "Because no single company can solve all design challenges
that face the electronics industry, collaboration is critical to
success. Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) and the OpenAccess
Coalition are great partners for Cadence. They are committed to
reducing the costs and addressing the complexity of chip designs
through collaboration and integration."
OpenConnect: The Third-Party Development Integration Program from
the OpenAccess Coalition
The OpenConnect program is designed to make it easier for
third-party EDA vendors to integrate their tools with OpenAccess.
Through OpenConnect, the OpenAccess Coalition will work to gain EDA
vendor participation and to facilitate their integration to
OpenAccess. Full details of the OpenConnect program will be released
at the upcoming OpenAccess Conference.
"We are optimistic that the OpenConnect program will help to
significantly expand the reach of OpenAccess to all EDA vendors," said
Andrew Graham, president, Si2. "The OpenAccess Coalition understands
the need for support to move these companies into the Community to
achieve true design technology interoperability."
OpenAccess Conference
An OpenAccess Conference is being held April 8-9, 2002, in San
Jose, California. The OpenAccess Coalition strongly encourages all who
are currently developing or interested in developing on OpenAccess to
attend this event. To register or for more information, visit
www.si2.org or call 512/342-2244, ext. 32.
About the OpenAccess Database and the OpenAccess Community
The OpenAccess database, previously known as the Cadence Genesis
Database, is a high performance, high capacity electronic design
database with architecture designed for easy integration and fast
application development. Today's design environments are a complicated
mix of design tools with proprietary applications and associated
databases with incompatible file formats and syntaxes. IC design
engineers spend an inordinate amount of time integrating them with
thousands of lines of translator code. The resulting flows are fragile
and error-prone. Engineered for industry-wide interoperability, the
OpenAccess database allows users to construct flows incorporating
design tools from multiple sources to best suit their needs.
OpenAccess is a community effort to provide true interoperability,
not just data exchange, among IC design tools through an open standard
data API and reference database implementation supporting that API for
IC design. The OpenAccess Coalition is a neutral organization
operating under Si2 bylaws.
Access to the source code will allow companies to offer
contributions to future database enhancements and add proprietary
extensions. The OpenAccess Coalition will be responsible for enhancing
the scalable API and database. More information about the OpenAccess
Coalition is available at www.OpenEDA.org.
About Cadence
Cadence is the largest supplier of electronic design automation
products, methodology services and design services. Cadence solutions
are used to accelerate and manage the design of semiconductors,
computer systems, networking and telecommunications equipment,
consumer electronics and a variety of other electronics-based
products. With approximately 5,700 employees and 2001 revenues of
approximately $1.43 billion, Cadence has sales offices, design centers
and research facilities around the world. The Company is headquartered
in San Jose, Calif., and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under
the symbol CDN. More information about the company, its products and
services is available at www.cadence.com.
About Si2
Silicon Integration Initiative, Inc. (Si2) provides engineering
consultation and services to industry-leading silicon, electronic
systems and EDA companies for synergistic, multi-company efforts
focused on improving productivity and costs in the design and
production of integrated silicon systems. The organization represents
members throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more
information about Si2, visit www.si2.org.
Cadence and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks of Cadence
Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
Contact:
Silicon Integration Initiative
For the OpenAccess Coalition
Kate Goralski, 512/342-2244 ext. 32
512/771-3773 (cell)
kate@si2.org
or
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Kevin Kimball, 408/944-7515
kkimball@cadence.com
or
Armstrong Kendall Inc.
Matt McGinnis, 503/672-4689
matt@akipr.com
