The only thing is, Imperas isn't announcing a product, and is saying little about the company's plans, other than its intent to focus on system-level automation tools for multiprocessor systems-on-chip (MPSoCs). The company says it will blend hardware and software technologies together, so as to create a "unified systems design automation approach" where hardware and software issues are combined.

"The single core era is coming to an end, and a lot of people are worrying about this problem," said Simon Davidmann, Imperas CEO and founder. "There will have to be new tools and techniques." Doing software development as an afterthought, Davidmann said, won't work.

Funded by Accel Partners and Pond Ventures, Imperas has a U.S. headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., and an engineering office in the U.K. Davidmann declined to say when the company will formally introduce a product, although private demos are ongoing at this week's DAC. On Wednesday (July 26), however, Imperas chief scientist Peter Flake will present a paper on "system-level automation tools for MPSoC designs."

Smith's mention of Imperas fits nicely with his pre-DAC briefing Sunday, in which he said that embedded software has become the biggest problem for electronic system design, and said that programmability has overtaken power as the biggest obstacle to the continuation of Moore's Law.

Imperas is one of seven ESL vendors on Smith's "what to see" list. The others are:

• Mentor Graphics, ESL co-verification
• Calypto Design Systems, ESL formal verification
• Tenison, ESL models
• Bluespec, ESL synthesis
• Forte Design Systems, ESL synthesis
• Javelin Design Automation, silicon virtual prototype

Smith also named several providers of "software virtual prototypes," including ARM, CoWare, Summit, Vast, Mentor Graphics, and Synopsys, which recently acquired Virtio.

Seven design for manufacturing (DFM) vendors are included on Smith's list. Of these, he said, Blaze DFM "could be the real DFM."

• Blaze DFM
• April
• Brion Technologies
• ClearShape
• KLA-Tencor
• Ponte Solutions
• Predictions Software

In the ASIC layout category, Smith's list includes Magma Design Automation and Sierra Design Automation. In custom layout, Smith named Cadence Design Systems, Pulsic, and Pyxis.

Three power optimization vendors are on the list: ArchPro, Golden Gate, and Proficient Design. There is one thermal vendor: Apache, which rolled out its Sahara-PTE thermal analysis product just prior to DAC.