Methodics - Support for Subversion 1.6 Design Data Version Control System

The modular VersIC architecture allows the addition of tools for managing the design data in a variety of ways, creating a sophisticated collaborative work environment that meets the growing need for communication between multiple sites and design teams, and enables visual comparison and implementation of design changes.

As the industry’s first tool suite to enable true global IC design collaboration, the VersIC configuration management (CM) and revision control tool is designed as an open, modular platform whose capabilities can be expanded with plug-in application modules that solve specific problems. It provides all the standard software configuration management (SCM) functionality, including branching/tagging, release flows, user workspace CM, IP variant management, hierarchical DM operations and full support of Cadence file types, and allows mixing different branches, tags and custom IP in the same local workspace. “DM-Driven” modules enable hardware design methodologies in a version-controlled context, and represent a revolutionary way to enable true global design collaboration.

Methodics VersIC enables a seamless Subversion-based configuration management experience in the Cadence design environment, and provides a common platform for software/hardware design objects,” said Bill Portelli, CEO of CollabNet, which started and is the major driver of the Subversion open-source version control system. “The intersection of software development tools and processes with hardware development tools and processes is something that the IC world has been seeking for years. It's great to see that Methodics has come up with just such a solution, and that they can now bring complete IC teams together for their DM needs using Subversion 1.6.

Using such industry-standard tools as Subversion 1.6 as the CM database ensures that design data is never locked into a proprietary system, and also makes the entire CM companion tools ecosystem available to facilitate user-specific IP and release methodologies.

“Sophisticated design management tools and methodologies to automate such tasks as revision control, SCM, continuous integration and code review are commonplace in the software development world, but have been sorely lacking for hardware designers,” said Simon Butler, CEO of Methodics. “We’re working to allow hardware designers to finally make use of these advanced software methodologies, integrated seamlessly into their layout/circuit design environments, and support for enterprise standard CM tools such as Subversion is a key to the success of that effort.”

About Subversion
Subversion (SVN) is a version control system, initiated in 2000, that is used to maintain current and historical versions of such files as source code, Web pages, and documentation. It is intended to be the successor to the widely used Concurrent Versions System (CVS).

In a 2007 report by Forrester Research, Subversion was recognized as the sole leader in the Standalone Software Configuration Management (SCM) category, and was a strong contender in the Software Configuration and Change Management (SCCM) category.