Synopsys DesignWare SATA IP enables first-pass silicon success for Global Unichip

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Synopsys Inc. has announced that Global Unichip Corp. (GUC) has achieved first-pass silicon success for its GP5080 Solid State Drive (SSD) system-on-chip (SoC) utilizing the complete Synopsys DesignWare SATA IP solution, consisting of controller, PHY and verification IP. GUC, a leading full-service SoC design foundry, determined that Synopsys' DesignWare SATA IP was superior in quality, power consumption, performance and feature set.

SATA interoperability was a key requirement for GUC, and Synopsys was the only provider to offer an integrated solution consisting of a controller and PHY IP that has passed the SATA International Organization (SATA-IO) Building Block interoperability testing, an independent demonstration of full SATA functionality.

By integrating Synopsys' DesignWare SATA IP solution into GUC's SSD SoC Platform, GUC was able to focus their internal expertise on delivering their SSD SoC platform within an aggressive six-month development time-to-market window.

With the mobile mass storage market transitioning from the conventional Hard Disk Drive (HDD) to the SSD, GUC set out to develop an SSD SoC solution that would meet the high-performance and low-power requirements of mobile applications such as netbooks, mobile internet devices (MIDs) and high-speed pen drives.

Its flagship, GP5080 SoC platform, provides designers with a solution that requires significantly less power than competitive products and provides high data system throughput of more than 120 MB/s in sequential read and over 80 MB/s in sequential write with 4-channel NAND Flash access.

"Low system power consumption is a key requirement for us. Synopsys' DesignWare SATA IP solution is 50 percent lower in power and 30 percent lower in area compared to competitive solutions," said Michael Chang, VP of the R&D Division at Global Unichip.

"With very aggressive time-to-market windows, GUC relies on Synopsys' high-quality, silicon-proven SATA IP solution which helps us achieve the first-pass success and meet our project schedule. Synopsys' DesignWare IP is definitely a brand we can trust."

"As leading companies such as GUC continue to create innovative products, it's crucial they have access to high-quality IP that enables them to reduce integration risk and focus internal resources on their core competencies," said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for the Solutions Group at Synopsys. "Synopsys provides our customers with high-quality interoperable IP solutions that will help semiconductor companies meet their design goals and deliver differentiated products to the market faster."

The DesignWare SATA IP offering consists of host and device digital cores, as well as PHYs for major foundries from 130nm to 40nm and verification IP that are compliant to SATA (including eSATA) 2.6/3.0 and AHCI specifications.

The comprehensive SATA IP solution supports 1.5 Gb/sec, 3 Gb/sec and 6 Gb/sec transfer speeds. Synopsys helps reduce integration risk by providing SATA IP solutions that are silicon-proven and shipping in volume production in multiple designs.