Strategic relationship with SiliconAid extends ASSET’s ScanWorks platform into chip test and verification

“This is just the first step toward our vision of a continuous test flow beginning at the chip level and extending to circuit boards and systems,” said Glenn Woppman, president and CEO of ASSET. “Beyond this chip debugger that we’ll be integrating into the ScanWorks platform, we can see a time when extensive chip tests can be re-used in board and system test, saving manufacturers considerably on test development and shortening time-to-market. We’re also excited about promoting SiliconAid’s IEEE P1687 IJTAG tools. We want to encourage the adoption of this emerging standard because we believe it will be critical to the effective utilization of embedded instrumentation in future test and measurement applications.”

SiliconAid’s JTDTM chip debugger, which will be integrated into ScanWorks immediately, is a robust real-time test and debug tool that can monitor structures inside chips and give visibility through an intuitive graphical interface to the engineer who is debugging the device. Although ASSET will initially resell SiliconAid’s IEEE P1687 IJTAG synthesis (JTSTM) and verification (JTVTM) tools, future plans could call for these tools to be integrated into ScanWorks as well. JTSTM and JTVTM allow chip designers to automatically insert IJTAG capabilities into chips and subsequently verify the implementation. IEEE P1687 provides a standard interface to instrumentation embedded in chips.

“We are excited about teaming up with ASSET to resell our tools and to help lead the industry’s adoption of the IJTAG IEEE P1687 standard,” said Jim Johnson, president of SiliconAid. “This standard is not just important for our two companies. It will be critical to the industry as embedded instrumentation proliferates in next-generation devices. Standards like P1687 enable a higher level of integration and automation, beginning with chip design and test, and then transitioning seamlessly into board test. Adding IEEE P1687 IJTAG tools into our suite is a natural next step for us to leverage our existing products and offer more value to our customers.”

As part of the new relationship, the two companies agreed to do joint marketing. The first such activity will be the 2009 International Test Conference (ITC), Nov. 2-6 in the Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX. Both companies will have booths at this year’s ITC and ASSET’s booth (No. 117) will feature a demonstration of SiliconAid’s JTDTM debugger. In addition, ASSET will feature the JTDTM debugger at Productronica in Munich, Germany, Nov. 10-13 (Hall A1, Stand 470).