Virtutech Develops First Simulation Model of Freescale's MPC8641D Dual-Core Embedded Processor Before Silicon Availability
Virtutech's Simulation Model Accelerates Development
of Software for MPC8641D Processor-Based Systems and
Drives Products' Ramp to Volume
SAN JOSE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—April 4, 2006—
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 info@virtutech.com.
Contact:
Virtutech, Inc.
Paul McLellan, 408-392-9150 ext. 597
Email Contact
or
Schwartz Communications, Inc.
Susannah Beckwith, 415-512-0770
Email Contact
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