Archive for December, 2011

A final aspect on why Synopsys participates heavily in technical industry standards is one that is often missed (or dismissed): Standards enable innovation. Many people confuse standardization with stifling innovation because standards provide precise specifications. They mistakenly believe that once a standard is defined (and most importantly, accepted) in the industry, all other alternatives are doomed and no further innovation is possible. This cannot be farther from the truth. In fact, having a standard – particularly an open standard – allows the entire industry to come to an agreement about common abstractions, representations, and/or terminologies so that the communication of certain problems and solutions becomes easier and less susceptible to misinterpretation. Suppliers such as Synopsys then have a foundation upon which to build products that embody the most modern, collective thinking of the industry.

Electronic design standards such as Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) have fueled innovation for decades in the semiconductor industry. These language standards raised the level of design abstraction to help enhance productivity – that was the benefit in the early days when the industry was migrating away from schematic-based design. Further, the HDLs – initially Verilog and VHDL – allowed designers to think in terms of functions rather than structures, thereby enabling design sizes to move from thousands of gates to millions of gates. The innovations that followed came in many forms – from design and analysis tools to new methodologies and global teams working around the clock on large projects. None of this would have been possible without a common, precise language to describe electronic circuits.

More recently, the SystemVerilog HDL has allowed us to think in terms of object-oriented verification environments for the ever-increasingly complex system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The success of a “reuse paradigm”, both for design and verification building blocks and the SoCs that are designed with them, is due in large part to the standardization of HDLs, HDL-based methodologies, and other technical standards.

From a different perspective, standards enable innovations to be developed on top of maturing technologies rather than reinventing the wheel. This increases the rate of innovation – a far cry from stagnation.

In addition to HDLs, Synopsys and our customers are also beneficiaries of technical standards such as the well-known USB, Wi-Fi, and PCI. and other communication protocols/interfaces. As a leader in the IP building block business, we are able to provide standards-based design and verification IP to help our customers accelerate their product schedules. Availability of standards-based, verified components allows the precious skilled engineering resources to be focused on building innovative and differentiated products instead of reinventing the wheel of implementing standard interfaces. Our participation in the groups that create and maintain these standards means we supply IPs that are compliant with the approved specifications, and we help enable interoperability between devices adhering to the corresponding standard.

From our very beginning, Synopsys’ business has benefited from using HDL standards as input to our tools, be it synthesis or simulation. Working with our customers and the entire semiconductor ecosystem, we have developed standards-based tools and methodologies to help ensure that each design moves from concept to silicon and then into a system (an end product) in the most efficient manner. We continue to invest in standardization efforts, lead with new and innovative technologies, and collaborate with customers, partners, and competitors alike to build strong platforms that enable the advancement of innovation.

Active participation in industry standardization activities requires a long-term vision and commitment, and the benefits are tangible. We have this, and that’s why we do it.

In addition to growing the market (part 1 of this series) and establishing and maintaining technology leadership (part 2), standards promote the discovery of complete solutions in collaboration with key industry players. These collaborative solutions benefit customers, of course, by providing the best overall result which is developed as broadly as possible. Perhaps less obvious is that collaborative solutions also benefit suppliers like Synopsys. Drawing not only upon technology contributions from customers and competitors alike, but also from their expertise, allows us to create products that address a bigger set of challenges being faced by today’s advanced system-on-chip designers.

Whether our technology alone is being donated to be considered as part of a standard or it is one of several contributions, the goal is always to look for ways a new standard will help solve a wide range of problems. As a solutions provider, we certainly have insight into some of the use models that will benefit from the new standard. Often times, however, other participants in the standards development process bring additional requirements for the new standard to support use models that were previously not considered.

For example, Synopsys made the Liberty format for technology library modeling – originally known as .lib – an open standard more than a decade ago. Following that, some of the very first updates to Liberty came from recommendations by Cadence Design Systems. As process technology continued to move ahead from 180 nanometer to 90 nanometer towards 14 nanometer, many new features were added to the Liberty format to represent corresponding abstractions for design and analysis tools. Contributors to its upgrades included IC designers, EDA tool suppliers, and library developers.

Currently evolving under the IEEE’s Industry Standards & Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO), the format continues to progress along with the technology it supports. Overseeing its evolution is the Liberty Technical Advisory Board (LTAB), a group of experts with a vested interest in maintaining the usefulness and robustness of the Liberty format.The group continues to tap into Synopsys’ – and others’ – expertise which is made readily available. Most recently, the group discussed and approved several new features to help model low-power cells, which are critical to the advancement and sales of mobile devices.

The collaborative effort among semiconductor foundries, fabless design houses, semiconductor IP providers, and EDA tool vendors (several in addition to Synopsys) is continuing to benefit the entire industry. It is also helping Synopsys maintain close ties with the entire semiconductor ecosystem to better understand upcoming requirements and challenges – giving us an opportunity to be the first to provide innovative solutions.