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yalanand
"Cadence said its approach bridging hardware and software reduces system ...
iniewski
This is going to be an interesting transition for semiconductor companies to ...
Cadence rolls system-level development suite
Dylan McGrath
5/4/2011 3:09 AM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif.—EDA vendor Cadence Design Systems Inc. Tuesday (May 3) threw its hat in the hardware-software co-development ring with a high-profile product launch at the Embedded Systems Conference here.
Cadence rolled out its System Development Suite, featuring a pair of new products—the Cadence Rapid Prototyping Platform and the Cadence Virtual System Platform—integrated with the company's Palladium XP Verification Computing Platform and Cadence Incisive Verification Platform. The new products are Cadence's first solutions for virtual prototyping and FPGA prototyping.
The rollout is seen as an attempt by Cadence to draw closer to rival Synopsys Inc., which over the past two years has acquired several electronic system level design firms that provided virtual prototyping. Cadence executives said the firm was better positioned than rivals to offer platforms that enable hardware-software co-design from architectural-level development through to prototyping, based in part on the company's offering of hardware-based emulation through Palladium.
"They're taking a shot at Synopsys," said Gary Smith, principal analyst at Gary Smith EDA. "Their key is that they've got the big box emulators they can tie it to. That gives them an advantage that's going to get them through the door in some places." Smith added that he had yet to see the products and thus had not had a chance to evaluate them.
Cadence said its approach bridging hardware and software reduces system integration time by up to 50 percent.
John Bruggeman, Cadence senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said the rollout was consistent with Cadence's EDA 360 initiative that was rolled out a year ago. That initiative, which emphasizes the rise in importance of software-based applications for end user hardware, predicted many of the disruptions in technology that took place over the past year—faster than Cadence thought they would, according to Bruggeman.
"Many of the predictions we made came true faster than we ever thought we could," Bruggeman said.
As an example, Bruggeman pointed to the media tablet—a product category that didn't exist a little more than a year ago. Bruggeman said 150 tablets were introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January (though other estimates at the time were lower).
"It's no longer about form, size of color" but applications, Bruggeman said. "It's changed the way people had to think."
He added, "All of the sudden, semiconductor companies are going to have to deal with software. And believe it or not, it's not in their DNA."
Next: Integrated flow
Cadence rolled out its System Development Suite, featuring a pair of new products—the Cadence Rapid Prototyping Platform and the Cadence Virtual System Platform—integrated with the company's Palladium XP Verification Computing Platform and Cadence Incisive Verification Platform. The new products are Cadence's first solutions for virtual prototyping and FPGA prototyping.
The rollout is seen as an attempt by Cadence to draw closer to rival Synopsys Inc., which over the past two years has acquired several electronic system level design firms that provided virtual prototyping. Cadence executives said the firm was better positioned than rivals to offer platforms that enable hardware-software co-design from architectural-level development through to prototyping, based in part on the company's offering of hardware-based emulation through Palladium.
"They're taking a shot at Synopsys," said Gary Smith, principal analyst at Gary Smith EDA. "Their key is that they've got the big box emulators they can tie it to. That gives them an advantage that's going to get them through the door in some places." Smith added that he had yet to see the products and thus had not had a chance to evaluate them.
Cadence said its approach bridging hardware and software reduces system integration time by up to 50 percent.
John Bruggeman, Cadence senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said the rollout was consistent with Cadence's EDA 360 initiative that was rolled out a year ago. That initiative, which emphasizes the rise in importance of software-based applications for end user hardware, predicted many of the disruptions in technology that took place over the past year—faster than Cadence thought they would, according to Bruggeman.
"Many of the predictions we made came true faster than we ever thought we could," Bruggeman said.
As an example, Bruggeman pointed to the media tablet—a product category that didn't exist a little more than a year ago. Bruggeman said 150 tablets were introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January (though other estimates at the time were lower).
"It's no longer about form, size of color" but applications, Bruggeman said. "It's changed the way people had to think."
He added, "All of the sudden, semiconductor companies are going to have to deal with software. And believe it or not, it's not in their DNA."
Next: Integrated flow
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iniewski
5/4/2011 9:13 AM EDT
This is going to be an interesting transition for semiconductor companies to deal with increasing amount of software. I watched one company over here going from 80% hardware/20% software to 30% hardware / 70% software in 3 years. Tools like this one will help. How easy is it to use? Kris
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yalanand
5/4/2011 10:40 AM EDT
"Cadence said its approach bridging hardware and software reduces system integration time by up to 50 percent."
I am sure with this release cadence is all set to give tough competition to Synopsys. Needs to be seen what will the response of Synopsys.
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