Platforms feature 200 debug & analysis apps

Synopsys' VC Apps provide direct access to the design, environment and verification information in its Verdi open and extensible debug platform, which is widely used for all major simulation, emulation, formal and static verification flows. Through strong customer and third-party EDA company participation, the range of capabilities available as VC Apps has expanded to the areas of low power design analysis and enhanced debug collaboration.

With debug consuming as much as 50% of verification time and effort due to the complexities of today's designs, constant innovation and customisation are needed. To make debug maximally efficient, VC Apps provide users with the tools to create custom applications to overcome their unique design and verification challenges. Through Synopsys' collaboration with customers and partners globally, the number of available VC Apps continues to grow. Now with more than 200 apps available, customers have access to capabilities that address many design challenges including design exploration, design rule validation, debug automation, debug waveform investigation, power estimation and exploration, technology integration and design manipulation. These customisations and automated work flows boost productivity and help design teams address their unique and changing verification challenges.

"As a fabless semiconductor company developing our advanced supercomputing on a chip technology, we need an efficient tool to manage the design and verification complexity inherent in many-core processor architectures," said Jehan-Philippe Barbiero, Hardware Verification Manager, Kalray. "To meet these needs, we have used VC Apps as a common platform and have created several methodologies and apps to automate our verification and debug flows, including Smart Dumping Control App and Auto Waveform Manipulation App. As a result, we have seen noticeable improvement in the productivity of waveform generation. VC Apps has also helped us to share the knowhow of IPs and cores with all of the Kalray teams."

"Our Ascent and Meridian SoC verification and RTL sign-off software effectively handle the most complex challenges of design teams, including cross-domain crossing analysis," said Graham Bell, Vice President, Marketing, Real Intent. "Our native integration with the Verdi debug platform through VC Apps enables easy identification of design issues from within our debug environment and leads to quick resolution of any root causes."

"To effectively address the verification challenges of complex SoCs, customised debug is necessary," said Yu-Chin Hsu, Vice President, R&D, Synopsys Verification Group. "Through close collaboration with industry leaders, we have made a significant investment in building the framework and assisting SoC teams in leveraging the strength of Verdi's open and extensible platform. With VC Apps, users can create custom applications to fulfill the ever-growing and evolving needs of their design and verification environments."

The VC Apps Developers Forum, focused on accelerating SoC debug and verification, will be held on Tuesday, 24^th March from 10:30am to 12:00pm at the SNUG Silicon Valley 2015 conference. At this forum, SoC design teams from around the world can learn from Synopsys and industry experts on how to create their own VC Apps and use them to boost verification and debug efficiency.

VC Apps are available today at the VC Apps Exchange, as well as through the VC Apps Toolbox in the general availability release of Verdi. These technologies are also included as part of Synopsys' Verification Compiler product.