The value of a virtual prototype, as has been made clear over the past couple of weeks, is partly about technology and partly about models. One without the other helps nobody.  So today, Carbon Design Systems, a provider of technology and models, has partnered with VeriSilicon, a DSP processor company, to provide models for their silicon.

According to the press release, this integration enables users to perform implementation-accurate architectural analysis and pre-silicon firmware development. That probably says that these are fairly low-level models of the processors, but no details were provided.

“We are happy to support VeriSilicon’s ZSP Digital Signal Processor cores and have VeriSilicon join our growing portfolio of IP partners,” states Bill Neifert, Carbon’s vice president of Business Development.  “The majority of companies developing complex SoC designs are using our SoC Designer virtual platform.  This partnership will enable those companies to design with VeriSilicon’s ZSP processors and begin firmware development well in advance of actual silicon.”

“VeriSilicon is committed to simplifying the steps needed to adopt our ZSP processors,” adds Prasad Kalluri, VeriSilicon’s corporate vice president of Engineering.  “SoC designs are getting increasingly complex and system developers benefit by using a system-level modeling framework like Carbon’s SoC Designer virtual platform.  Partnering with Carbon to make our ZSP Digital Signal Processor cores available in SoC Designer enables our customers to start the firmware development process much earlier in the design cycle and debug with full system visibility.”

This integration links software models for the ZSP5XX and ZSP8XX series processors and debuggers directly into the SoC Designer virtual platform environment.  Integrated models can take advantage of all of SoC Designer’s system analysis and debug capabilities.  Debug of hardware and software is synchronized to enable engineers to set breakpoints in any part of the system and immediately see the impact of hardware or software changes on the entire system.

The VeriSilicon ZSP integration is available now from Carbon Design Systems.  For pricing and further details, send email to:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  To learn more about Carbon Design Systems, visit:  www.carbondesignsystems.com. 

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Brian Bailey – keeping you covered