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Liga Systems Unveils Breakthrough Hybrid Simulator That Boosts Traditional RTL Simulation by 10 to 100 Times
Plug-In VLIW Turbocharger Leverages Existing Simulation
Infrastructure and Eliminates the Need to Implement Designs in
Hardware Accelerators
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—July 17, 2006—
Liga Systems, Inc., a Silicon Valley-Based EDA company focused on
delivering lightning-fast RTL simulation to the desktop, emerged from
stealth today to unveil NitroSIM(TM), its breakthrough, patented,
drop-in Hybrid Simulator that boosts desktop and compute farm server
simulation speed by 10 to 100 times. Hybrid Simulation is a simulation
technology harnessing patented software and hardware techniques that
enables acceleration of RTL simulation without compromising software
simulation features, pricing or capacity. To chip designers,
NitroSIM's very long instruction word (VLIW) turbocharger appears to
process the simulation exactly like a standard processor, but orders
of magnitude faster and with no change to the existing simulation
flow. NitroSIM eliminates the computation bottleneck in System-on-Chip
(SoC) designs of up to 300 million gates -- a bottleneck that usually
persists even with the use of costly simulation server farms or FPGA-
and processor-based hardware accelerators. NitroSIM's processing power
copes easily with increasing work-load, while its simulator-like
behavior makes it ideal for use by RTL design, verification, firmware
and IP engineers.
NitroSIM tackles the verification productivity gap caused by the
inability of workstation-based software simulation to scale adequately
with today's increasing design size, and the fundamental
incompatibility of FPGA- and processor-based hardware accelerators
with software simulators. NitroSIM's VLIW processor deploys massive
parallel processing capability and simultaneously eliminates the cache
memory miss problem -- a failure to access instructions and data in
cache memory -- which becomes the dominant factor in overall
simulation performance as design size grows. The resultant simulation
performance boost enables the deployment of fewer compute farm
resources, reducing hardware costs. NitroSIM supports commonly used
software simulation features, most notably testbenches, 4-state
handling, behavioral checks and assertions, which are not supported by
hardware accelerators. Moreover, when using testbenches, NitroSIM can
deliver greater performance gains than hardware accelerators and does
so at a greatly reduced cost.
"In simple terms, NitroSIM is a desktop software simulator with a
hardware turbo-charger, available at software prices," said Henry
Verheyen, president and CEO of Liga Systems. "NitroSIM is a drop-in
solution. It uses the same testbenches and simulation scripts as your
standard software simulator, leverages existing compute hardware and
software infrastructures, with the critical difference being that it
runs 10x to 100x faster than software simulation. We have seen great
success with our early customers, and are now seeking to expand our
efforts with a larger group of customers through a special Beta
Program before making our product available to the broader
marketplace."
Unlike hardware accelerators, NitroSIM requires no FPGAs or
processors to map the design functionality, as the design is, in its
entirety, compiled into memory instructions for execution by the VLIW
processor. With its small form factor, NitroSIM fits inside a desktop
or server PC as a plug-in upgrade, requiring no additional space.
NitroSIM's compile and set-up time is on the order of hours and can be
applied to all phases of RTL design: from small blocks, to big blocks,
to the entire chip, to multi-chip. This breakthrough solution provides
users the ability to simulate and verify entire systems at high
simulation speeds at an affordable cost.
Liga Systems will have a NitroSIM system on display in exhibition
booth #4351, and will also provide in-depth private product
demonstrations within its demo suites at the Design Automation
Conference (DAC) from July 24-27, 2006, at the Moscone Convention
Center in San Francisco, California. To learn more and schedule a
suite presentation at DAC, please call 408-745-6100 x225 or email
dac06@ligasystems.com.
Pricing and Availability
NitroSIM is available now in a beta version to select customers,
and can be ordered this quarter. Priced at $50,000 (US list) for a
complete unit with a maximum capacity of 300 million gates.
About Liga Systems
Liga Systems, Inc. is a privately-held EDA company focused on
delivering lightning-fast RTL simulation to the desktop. The company
serves test, verification and IP markets with breakthrough hybrid
simulation technology that turbocharges performance at a dramatically
reduced cost. Liga's plug-in VLIW turbocharger leverages existing
simulation infrastructure, tackles SoC designs of up to 300 million
gates, and eliminates the need to implement designs in FPGAs or
processors. Founded in 2003, Liga Systems is headquartered in
Sunnyvale, California. For details on how to boost the speed of
software-based simulation, increase capacity, scale with growing
design sizes, reduce overall functional verification costs and benefit
from this breakthrough simulation solution, please visit:
http://www.ligasystems.com.
All trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this news
release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.
Contact:
For Liga Systems, Inc.
Francine Bacchini, 408-839-8153
Email Contact
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