OSCI was already struggling with criticism from other EDA vendors, most notably Mentor Graphics and C Level Design, over a controversial provision in its Synopsys-controlled licensing agreement. And despite claims of many downloads from the organization's open-source web site, it is unknown whether the SystemC class library has been used to produce any working silicon.

SystemC is a C++ class library and modeling platform launched by Synopsys and CoWare. OSCI has since been spun out as a separate organization, and the effort won a major endorsement when Cadence Design Systems joined. The selection of EDA veteran vanCleemput as an independent co-chair and administrator was supposed to be another step forward, but it clearly backfired.

Reached on a business trip in Japan, vanCleemput, president of consulting firm Delos Research Group, acknowledged resigning and writing the letter, but declined to comment further. The letter was sent to EE Times by an unidentified source.

VanCleemput's letter said he was "very frustrated with the way OSCI is being pushed in a very wrong direction." He then went on to recite several problems, mostly related to Synopsys' alleged insistence on maintaining control over SystemC's technical activities, licensing agreement, and admission of other EDA vendors.

OSCI's other co-chairs are Kevin Kranen, director of strategic programs for SystemC at Synopsys, and Pete Hardee, director of product marketing at CoWare. To respond to vanCleemput's allegations, however, OSCI put forth Janice Benzel, a member of OSCI's board of directors. Benzel works for Motorola but declined to reveal her title.

OSCI to probe charges
"These are very serious allegations and we don't take them lightly," Benzel said. "We are not aware of any facts that prove anything improper has occurred within OSCI, and we have directed our legal counsel to conduct a very thorough investigation." Benzel spoke with EE Times after the OSCI board of directors met with its legal team June 4.

Apart from the political turmoil is the question of whether designers will actually use SystemC. Reaction in the E-Mail Synopsys User's Group has been almost universally negative, and a recent ESNUG "trip report" contains a signed letter from a Motorola engineer who tried SystemC and denounced it as inefficient and hard to use.

The latest accusations will make for an interesting Design Automation Conference (DAC) later this month, where OSCI had planned to formally introduce itself and to hold three open meetings — a user's forum, a new member meeting, and a birds-of-a-feather discussion. Registration for these meetings is available at at the group's web site.

The first problem cited in vanCleemput's letter is the SystemC click-through licensing agreement, which binds users to give up rights to sue Synopsys, CoWare or other SystemC contributors over software patents. This clause prompted Mentor and C Level to refuse to license software, even though C Level endorsed the initiative itself.

VanCleemput's letter said the licensing agreement contains "numerous flawed constructions" in addition to the software patent issue, but that as a result of "stonewalling" by Synopsys, nothing has been done to correct the problems. "If SystemC is truly public, it should be licensed by OSCI, not Synopsys," he wrote.

"Unethical" discussions or worse
The letter further complains that Cadence joined OSCI as a result of a "deal" cut with Synopsys, not OSCI. "If the details of this 'deal' would be known, it may turn out to be in violation of U.S. antitrust statutes," he wrote. And now, the letter complains, Mentor Graphics is negotiating directly with Synopsys — not OSCI — to join the initiative.

"OSCI is not privy to the details of these discussions," vanCleemput wrote. "I think that this is at least unethical, that it violates OSCI's not-for-profit status, and that it may be a violation of U.S. antitrust statutes."

VanCleemput's letter also complains of Synopsys and CoWare domination of OSCI's technical activities. He noted that there is a single technical working group in OSCI, headed by Dundar Dumlugol of CoWare, that consists mostly of Synopsys and CoWare people. VanCleemput said he has been "stonewalled continuously" in his efforts to get this group to document its policies and procedures.

The language specification is controlled by this tight-knit group, vanCleemput wrote. "The key Synopsys and CoWare people in this group want to keep this an exclusive club," vanCleemput wrote. This, he said, results "in a guaranteed technical lead of at least one year over companies not involved in this group."

"If I were the (chief executive) of a small company competing with Synopsys, I would cry fowl," vanCleemput wrote. "I feel you are tolerating actions that the U.S. antitrust statutes forbid." His letter went on to denounce the initiative as an "anti-competitive organization" and said that Synopsys and CoWare want to use it as a "competitive Trojan Horse."

Motorola's Benzel refuted claims that Synopsys and CoWare have too much control over SystemC. "We will ensure that our policies and procedures are consistent with our overall goal, which is to create a standard that is pro-competitive and encourages multiple companies to develop applications," she said.

Benzel said the board of directors has reviewed the licensing agreement, and has agreed to make some changes, one of which is to remove Synopsys from a position of total control. She could not give a timetable as to when this might happen, or further details about changes in the licensing provisions.

She denied the accusation that Synopsys and CoWare monopolize the language specification, noting that Motorola, Fujitsu and Cadence also have representatives in the language specification group. But she acknowledged that most of the changes in the reference implementation have come from Synopsys and CoWare thus far.

As to any deals cut between Synopsys, Cadence and Mentor, Benzel said the board is not aware of any "improper" actions but has asked OSCI legal counsel to investigate.

OSCI board members include Synopsys, CoWare, Cadence, Infineon, Fujitsu, NEC, Sony, ARM, Ericsson, ST Microelectronics, and Motorola. A recent e-mail from Jonas Plantin of Ericsson said his company will withdraw for financial reasons, but Plantin declined to comment further.

While vanCleemput's letter may give pause to EDA vendors who are thinking of joining OSCI, the SNUG trip report posting from John Rinderknecht of Motorola Labs may dissuade some chip designers from taking it up. Rinderknecht said his group developed its latest design using SystemC, and found it to be harder to read than Verilog, "slower and more clumsy" to write, hard to debug, inefficient for reuse, and to pose "a steep learning curve for all."

"Motorola is a very broad company with a broad range of users," commented Motorola's Benzel. "SystemC is targeted at people designing in the systems realm. It's conceivable there might be people it doesn't fit."

Benzel declined, however, to discuss whether and how SystemC is currently being used at Motorola, and she said she didn't know if any company has taped out silicon using SystemC.