Will the launch of ARC based complete sound system IP by Synopsys ring the bell for the opening of a new IP market segment, the “Subsystem IP”? If you look at the IP market evolution, starting from standard cell libraries and memory compiler offering in the 1990’s, moving to commodity functions like UART or I2C in the late 1990’s to … Read More
Semiconductor Intellectual Property
ARM big.LITTLE Virtual Platforms
You have probably heard something about ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture. This links a Cortex-A15 multi-core CPU with a Cortex-A7 CPU. The A15 is a high-performance processor and the A7 is a very low power processor. The basic idea is that when high-performance is required (playing a graphical video game on your smartphone,… Read More
Intel will NOT build ARM chips!
As I mentioned in my previous blog “NVIDIA Claims TSMC 20nm will not Scale?” Jen-Hsun Huang is a very entertaining guy. I always listen to the NVIDIA conference calls because you never know what he will say next. Clearly he is a smart guy so you have to ask yourself why all the rhetoric?
In the Forbes article NVIDIA: Intel should let us… Read More
Synopsys Users Group Silicon Valley 2012 Keynote: ARM
Keynote #2 at SNUG 2012 was John Cornish, VP Marketing at ARM. Why they sent a marketing person to speak in front of 2,000+ engineers I do not know. To top that, next time they should send a sales person and do a real dog and pony show. To find out more about John I checked his LinkedIn profile which was bare. So enough about John, lets hit … Read More
NVM Express: pervasion of PCI Express in SSD based storage
The verification IP (VIP) for Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) announcement from Synopsys is the first fruit issued from the acquisition of ExpertIO. With the proliferation of Nand Flash based storage equipment, or Solid State Drives (SSD), the move from pure SATA based solution was to be expected, sooner or later. Not because… Read More
According with Cadence, PCI Express gen-3, to be the PCIe solution for the mainstream market as soon as in 2012
The launch from Cadence of the PCI Express 3.0 Controller IP was officially done about one year ago, and demonstrated at the June 2011 PCI-SIG Developer’s Conference, where Cadence Design IP for PCI Express 3.0 controller IP implemented as a high-performance, dual-mode, 128-bit data-path, x8 PCI Express 3.0 controller… Read More
The Coming Gamer Tablet from…… Apple!
After the introduction of the NEWiPAD, Apple has placed itself just two short steps away from dominating the computer market – including PCs. One step, which is widely reported, is a smaller iPAD with an 8” screen that aims for a $299 price point. Amazon will take the rest of the market under $299. The second step is purely speculation… Read More
Virtual Prototype your SoC including FlexNoC
Designing larger than ever SoC, integrating multiple ARM’s Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A9 microprocessor cores as well as complexes IP functions like HDMI controller, DDR3 Memory controller, Ethernet, SATA or PCI Express controller are pushing designers to search for better price, performance and area tradeoffs and the SoC interconnect… Read More
Apple’s New iPAD and the End of PC Benchmarks
With the introduction of the “New iPAD”, we now have the 2012 benchmark for the tablet market, including the offerings that will come from Amazon later in the year. As has been noted earlier, with each new mobile product iteration Apple unmoors itself from the PC foundations of Microsoft, Intel and even nVidia and AMD. At the unveiling… Read More
Test Synopsys offensive in VIP and try the quiz
I have recently blogged about Synopsys offensive in the Verification IP market. Did Synopsys again launched a new product, or announced a new acquisition? This would be a serious topic to blog, but today’s blog is closer to gaming than market analysis. Sometimes it’s good to have fun, even if the topic is serious! In fact, Synopsys… Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot