Are you going to the plug fest?

Are you going to the plug fest?
by Eric Esteve on 05-17-2013 at 10:16 am

PCI Express 3.0 specification is 1000 pages long. Most of us, and most of the designers integrating PCIe gen-3 into their latest ASIC, FPGA or system will probably never read it completely, or even open it. In fact, they don’t need to read it completely, but they should care about one point, whether they buy an ASSP or a PCIe design IP:… Read More


PCI Express IP vendor Cascade acquisition by Synopsys…

PCI Express IP vendor Cascade acquisition by Synopsys…
by Eric Esteve on 04-08-2013 at 9:42 am

… is now 8 years old, and the money paid for this 10 engineers start-up was considered, at that time, as a “bingo” for Cascade’s funders: “In October 2004, the Company completed the acquisition of Cascade Semiconductor Solutions, Inc. (Cascade) for total upfront consideration of $15.8 million and contingent consideration of … Read More


In compliance we trust, for integration we verify

In compliance we trust, for integration we verify
by Don Dingee on 03-26-2013 at 8:10 pm

So, you dropped that piece of complex IP you just licensed into an SoC design, and now it is time to fire up the simulator. How do you verify that it actually works in your design? If you didn’t get verification IP (VIP) with the functional IP, it might be a really long day.

Compliance checking something like a PCIe interface block is a … Read More


New PCI Express 3.0 Equalization Requirements

New PCI Express 3.0 Equalization Requirements
by Eric Esteve on 01-22-2013 at 9:18 am

PCI Express 3.0 increased the supported data rate to 8 Gbps, which effectively doubles the data rate supported by PCI Express 2.0. While the data rate was increased, no improvement was made to the channels. As such, an 8 Gbps channel in PCIe 3.0 experiences significantly more loss than one implemented in PCIe 2.0. To compensate for… Read More


Interface Protocols, USB3, PCI Express, MIPI, SATA… the winners and losers in 2012

Interface Protocols, USB3, PCI Express, MIPI, SATA… the winners and losers in 2012
by Eric Esteve on 01-08-2013 at 5:25 am

Who makes the decision and declare that a specific interface protocol is successful? Not me, as I can only consolidate market share data and some insight information coming from the industry. The end user, when going to a shop (real or virtual) and spend a significant part of his budget to buy an electronic product, selecting among… Read More


PCI express WILL be used in Smartphone and Media Tablet… opening infinity of new opportunities

PCI express WILL be used in Smartphone and Media Tablet… opening infinity of new opportunities
by Eric Esteve on 09-18-2012 at 12:24 pm

Looking at the various Interface protocols like HDMI, SuperSpeed USB, Universal Flash Storage (UFS) or even SATA integrated in Application Processor for smartphone and media tablet, one extremely powerful Interface protocol, already in use in electronic systems from various market segments from PC, PC Peripherals, Networking,… Read More


Interface IP (USB, PCIe, SATA, HDMI, MIPI, DDRn,…) Survey : the Introduction

Interface IP (USB, PCIe, SATA, HDMI, MIPI, DDRn,…) Survey : the Introduction
by Eric Esteve on 09-11-2012 at 10:00 am

The need to exchange larger and larger amount of data from system to the external world, or internally into an application, has pushed for the standardization of interconnect protocol. This allows interconnecting different Integrated Circuits (IC) coming from different vendors. Some protocols have been defined to best fit… Read More


A brief history of Interface IP, the 4th version of IPNEST Survey

A brief history of Interface IP, the 4th version of IPNEST Survey
by Eric Esteve on 09-07-2012 at 5:17 am

The industry is moving extremely fast to change the “old” way to interconnect devices using parallel bus, to the most efficient approach based on High Speed Serial Interconnect (HSSI) protocols. The use of HSSI has become the preferred solution compared with the use of parallel busses for new products developed … Read More


Shorter, better and easier PCIe and NVM Express Verification flow with advanced technologies

Shorter, better and easier PCIe and NVM Express Verification flow with advanced technologies
by Eric Esteve on 07-19-2012 at 8:05 pm

We have talked about Cadence subsystem IP strategy, illustrated by NVM Express subsystem IP, in a previous blog. What we said was that “A subsystem IP based approach will also speed up the software development and validation phase: if the IP provider is able to propose the right tools, like the associated Verification IP (VIP), … Read More


Such a small piece of Silicon, so strategic PHY IP

Such a small piece of Silicon, so strategic PHY IP
by Eric Esteve on 04-30-2012 at 6:05 am

How could I talk about the various Interface protocols (PCIe, USB, MIPI, DDRn…) from an IP perspective and miss the PHY IP! Especially these days, where the PHY IP market has been seriously shaken, as we will see in this post, and will probably continue to be shaken… but we will have to wait and look at the M&A news during the next … Read More