Faraday Selects Seamless from Mentor Graphics for Hardware/Software Co-Verification
WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 29, 2003--Mentor
Graphics Corp. (Nasdaq:MENT) today announced that Faraday Technology
Corporation (TSE:3035) has selected the Seamless(R) tool as its
co-verification environment for the DSP and microcontroller cores in
its intellectual properties (IP) library.
In conjunction with this announcement, Faraday will also offer its
first Mentor Graphics(R) Seamless Processor Support Package (PSP). The
PSP will model its FD216 16-bit DSP core, the first in a planned
series of PSPs to target audio processing applications such as MP3
players, photo printing and JPEG decoders.
"Hardware/software co-verification is a critical component of the
system-on-chip verification process," said Dr. George Hwang, vice
president of research and development for Faraday. "We determined the
need to support this technology for our IP. Looking at available
solutions, we chose Mentor Graphics as our partner given the proven
market leadership of the Seamless co-verification tool. With the FD216
PSP, our customers can use the Seamless product to verify their design
in an integrated hardware and software simulation environment through
virtual prototyping."
"A growing number of IP providers such as Faraday Technology are
recognizing the importance of hardware/software co-verification in
verifying their IP in SoC designs," said Serge Leef, general manager
of the System-on-Chip Verification Division at Mentor Graphics.
"Results show that the Seamless tool brings significant gains in
verification productivity. Customers have reported savings of one to
three months in typical embedded project schedules. As partners like
Faraday develop the Seamless models the technology becomes available
to their customers who can then realize the benefits of the solution."
Seamless Hardware/Software Co-Verification for the FD216
First introduced in 1996, the Seamless hardware/software
co-verification environment has become firmly established as the
market leader with support for over 120 microcontrollers and DSPs.
Since then it has been adopted by a wide range of customers designing
embedded systems across a broad range of applications.
Faraday Technology licensed the Seamless product in 2001 and
subsequently undertook development of the PSP for the FD216 DSP. The
FD216 is a high performance, easy to use, 16-bit embedded DSP
processor. This processor includes a DSP core, on-chip data memory,
program memory, two serial ports, one timer, twelve programmable I/Os,
an internal DMA (IDMA) interface, an external memory interface, and a
serial ICE interface. The DSP core has a four-stage pipeline
architecture, which provides operating frequencies up to 190MHz
(typical case), for 0.18um process applications with low operating
power requirements. Its single-phase clock and standard-cell based
approach allows customers to quickly integrate the FD216 into their
SoC designs.
Seamless provides support for all popular logic simulators and
many software development environments, including the Model
Technology(R) ModelSim(R) environment. The FD216 PSP utilizes a
proprietary code development tools and debug environment from Faraday
Technology.
Availability
The Seamless tool is available on Solaris, HP/UX and Red Hat Linux
platforms. Pricing starts at $40,000. For more information, or to
register for free Seamless workshops and functional verification
seminars, visit www.mentor.com/seamless.
The FD216 PSP is available from Faraday Technology. For more
information, please contact sales@faraday.com.tw or the marketing
sponsor Joanne Li-Jiuan Chen, whose email is joanne@faraday.com.tw
About Seamless
Linking popular software development and debug tools with logic
simulation, Seamless delivers high performance co-verification months
before a hardware prototype can be built. Seamless enables software
and hardware development to be parallel activities, removing software
from the critical path and reducing the risk of hardware prototype
iterations resulting from integration errors. User-controlled
optimizations boost performance by isolating the logic simulator from
software-intensive operations such as block memory transfers and
algorithmic routines.
About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT) is a world leader in
electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products,
consulting services and award-winning support for the world's most
successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in
1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of about
$600 million and employs approximately 3,500 people worldwide.
Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road,
Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are
located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314.
World Wide Web site: www.mentor.com.
About Faraday Technology Corporation
Faraday Technology Corporation provides leading ASIC/SoC design
services and production-proven IPs to customers ranging from system
houses and IDMs to IC design houses. The company's broad portfolio of
key IPs includes leading products such as RISC CPUs, 16/20/24-bit
DSPs, USB2.0 Transceiver and Controller, Gigabit Ethernet, and
Serial-ATA. Faraday's ASIC design services and IPs are widely used in
PC peripherals, communication, and digital consumer products. With
more than 450 employees and 2002 revenue of 96.2 million USD, Faraday
is the largest fabless ASIC design service company in Asia-Pacific.
Headquartered in Hsinchu Taiwan, Faraday offers services and support
branch offices around the world, including the U.S., Japan, Europe,
and China. For more information on Faraday, please visit
http://www.faraday.com.tw.
Mentor Graphics, Seamless, Model Technology and ModelSim are
registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other
company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks
of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Mentor Graphics
Wendy Slocum, 503/685-1145
wendy_slocum@mentor.com
or
Suzanne Graham, 503/685-7789
suzanne_graham@mentor.com
