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Cadence Meets Design Constraint Challenges with Enhanced Encounter Conformal Technology
Encounter Conformal Constraint Designer Automates Generation,
Validation of Design Constraints from RTL to Layout
SAN JOSE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Jan. 17, 2005—
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN)(Nasdaq:CDN) today
announced the release of Encounter(TM) Conformal(R) Constraint
Designer, which automates the generation and validation of design
constraints at all stages of the design process from RTL to final
netlist. The new product performs comprehensive design constraint
quality checks to ensure that designers start with high-quality
constraints up front. This helps reduce the number of iterations due
to invalid constraints.
Design constraints are used to direct synthesis, timing analysis
and place and route to meet a chip's timing, area and power
requirements. Poorly designed constraints lead to long implementation
design cycle time and the risk of silicon failure and re-spins. With
design constraints getting larger and more complex, designers are
spending significant amounts of time attempting to produce a set of
valid constraints. Until now, there has been no automated solution
dedicated to resolve this problem. Encounter Conformal Constraint
Designer addresses the challenges of the new domain of constraint
design by generating and validating design constraints, and helping
pinpoint the root cause of constraint problems.
"We found Encounter Conformal Constraint Designer to be valuable
in helping measure the quality and completeness of constraints across
several large blocks of our highest-performance desktop graphics
chip," said Karl Pfalzer, staff engineer, Desktop Graphics Group, ATI
Santa Clara. "The well-designed interface, consistent with the other
Encounter Conformal tools, greatly eased the learning curve. As we
embark on our next chip and integrate large portions from several
design sites, a quick and easy-to-use measure of constraint quality is
a must. We expect Encounter Conformal Constraint Designer to become an
integral part of our design flow."
Encounter Conformal Constraint Designer is the only complete
solution available for ensuring valid timing constraints are met
throughout the entire design process. Based on a world-class formal
verification engine, it automates the validation and generation of
constraints. Pinpointing real design issues quickly, it also helps
accurate achievement of rapid timing closure.
"Encounter Conformal Constraint Designer is the latest innovation
in Cadence formal verification technology," said Michael Chang, vice
president of R&D of Cadence Formal Verification division. "With this
new product, customers finally have an integrated approach to address
their constraint challenges."
Using this technology, designers reduce overall design cycle times
and design risk associated with constraints. Designers also benefit
from higher-quality timing constraints for their design
implementation, which can significantly enhance quality of silicon
(QoS). It provides a vast improvement over conventional inefficient
manual constraint validation and modification methods.
Encounter Conformal Constraint Designer is shipping now.
About Cadence
Cadence is the world's largest supplier of electronic design
technologies and engineering services. Cadence products and services
are used to accelerate and manage the design of semiconductors,
computer systems, networking equipment, telecommunications equipment,
consumer electronics, and other electronics based products. With
approximately 4,850 employees and 2003 revenues of approximately $1.1
billion, Cadence has sales offices, design centers, and research
facilities around the world. The company is headquartered in San Jose,
Calif., and trades on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq
under the symbol CDN. More information is available at
www.cadence.com.
Cadence, the Cadence logo, and Conformal are registered trademarks
of Cadence Design Systems in the United States and other countries.
Encounter is a trademark of Cadence Design Systems. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Contact:
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Judy Erkanat, 408-894-2302
jerkanat@cadence.com
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