OCP-IP develops relaxed commercial use license for SystemC transaction level modeling kit

BEAVERTON, USA: Open Core Protocol International Partnership (OCP-IP) today announced the availability of a relaxed version of their SystemC Transaction Level Modeling (TLM) Kit license. The new, commercial use version of the license allows members to modify or create derivative works.

In addition, the new license distinguishes between source and binary code redistribution and provides a clear definition for derivative work. It now also permits uses outside of semiconductor products such as research, training, products like virtual platforms, consultancy reports or EDA tool testing. Distribution to software customers is now allowed for OCP-based product development. Finally, the new license removes auto-termination conditions ensuring Member companies are no longer at risk of violating the agreement through oversight.

The OCP TLM kit is the first, and most advanced TLM-2.0 based, industry-ready kit in existence today. It provides the first port of call for the entire ESL world. The work by OCP-IP’s System Level Design Working Group significantly increases performance, ease-of-use and ensures alignment with the OSCI 2.0 standard. The kits are free as part of OCP-IP membership entitlement and save users hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in development, documentation, and training costs otherwise required to develop such kits independently.

The kit aligns with OSCI 2.0 for all levels of abstraction and includes TL4, which is equivalent to OSCI's "loosely-timed” (LT) level. TL1 is fully cycle-accurate, including support for clock cycle synchronization and combinatorial paths. TL2 handles intra-burst timing. TL3 and TL4: inter-burst or no timing, equivalent to OSCI’s Base Protocol.

“Our new SystemC TLM license was developed in an effort to further extend our members deployment of these mature and proven, advanced kits,” said Ian Mackintosh, president OCP-IP. “The kit provides the complementary, high-level support and tools both valuable and essential to our members, allowing them to focus on their critical design goals and maximize their ROI.”