IC Manage announces IP Central to maximize IP re-use

LOS GATOS, USA: IC Manage Inc. announced that the IC Manage Global Design Platform (GDP) has been extended to include IP Central, an open platform for maximizing IP reuse. Design and verification teams can use IP Central to rapidly publish and integrate IP into existing flows, and to trace bug dependencies. Internal and third party IP can be imported or linked with IP Central from multiple commercial and open source design management systems, as well as internal revision control systems.

"Two limiting factors to maximizing IP reuse have been the time required to integrate the IP into the design flow and the time needed to verify that the IP will work in the design," said Dean Drako, IC Manage's president and CEO. "With IC Manage's IP Central, design and verification teams can more rapidly and efficiently leverage internal and external IP, minimizing both engineering resources and the risk of project delays."

Managing IP re-use in existing design flows
With 66 percent of IP internally developed, semiconductor companies are seeking ways to more effectively leverage their internal IP, as well as IP from third party vendors. An April 2011 independent survey of 465 engineers on IP reuse and design management ranked verification and IP reuse as the top two areas of the SoC and IC design process requiring investment over the next two years.

Re-using IP still has the following challenges:
* IP comes from disparate data sources, internal databases and file systems.
* Re-using internal IP is unwieldy due to the number of dynamically changing properties associated with each IP module.
* Verifying IP and fixing the bugs identified can be prohibitive due to the interdependencies across the design and derivative designs versions.
* Assembling the IP is increasingly difficult – manually copying and managing IP data is data intensive and error prone.

Design teams will only readily utilize existing IP if it takes less time for them to do so than it takes them to create new design content.

IC Manage's IP Central key features
IP Central is an open and scalable platform to rapidly publish and reuse internal and third party IP in SoC, IC and FGPA designs across the enterprise.

Create & Publish IP via a check-list driven flow with encapsulated IP and property data, such as design data, bugs, assertions, constraints, electrical and simulation parameters, and documentation. An IP can be marked as completed or verified, based on a set of rules or metrics. Quality or verification metrics can be imported or linked from third party tools.

Import or Link IP data from multiple commercial and open source design management systems and internal databases and file systems to create a central view of IP assets.

Integrate IP data by automatically mapping directory based data into structured format.

Search and Select IP by fully configurable, dynamic specifications. For example, find objects that are of type PLL, 0.13 micron, 2100 MHz, Verilog, GDSII, LEF, DRC and LVS clean. IP Central can also link to external IP catalogs.

Manage IP Bugs by identifying the bugs, tracing bug dependencies and propagating fixes.

Track IP via incremental capabilities, as compared to static tar ball or stagnant bill of materials models. IP Central's visual analytics allow for easier tracking of IP usage and interdependencies.

IC Manage IP Central benefits
GDP-IP central has the following benefits:

* IP Producers can easily publish IP via a checklist-driven flow with the IP properties encapsulated. Producers can identify what chip the IP they support is being used in, which designers are using it, and the IP version they are using.

* Managers can set permissions for IP usage in a secure manner, track exactly where the IP is being used, and control usage of selected IP.

* IP Consumers can search for IP according to complex specifications, view all IP properties, understand the status, and manage bugs.

By automating the tedious and time-consuming process of publishing and managing a company's IP and all its associated properties, IC Manage's GDP-IP Central allows design and verification teams to finally reap the benefits of IP reuse a timely and resource efficient manner.

GDP-IP Central is available on Linux, Solaris, Mac and Windows.