IC Manage launches next-gen IP Central

IP Central now pulls together all internal and third-party company IP into a searchable catalogue,  providing secure, streamlined access for all design team members. Fully compatible with commercial design management systems, Git-based environments, and IC Manage GDP-XL, IP Central now scales to manage over 100 million IP objects, offering unprecedented flexibility and efficiency.

IP Central empowers design and verification teams to maximise the benefits of IP reuse by automating the complex task of publishing, managing, and accessing a company’s entire IP portfolio.

• IP Owners: IP developers leverage a requirements-driven workflow to publish their IP to a centralised catalogue. They can easily track which versions of their IP are being used by specific designers in various chips and receive notifications if any bugs are identified.
• Design teams: design team members can search a central catalogue of all available company IP according to designated categories, specific strings, or a combination of desired IP parameters. They can access detailed IP datasheets, monitor the status, and track any associated bugs.
• Management: managers have full control over which IP assets are included in the catalogue, can set permissions for IP usage, and can accurately monitor the deployment of different IP versions, along with their verification status.

Scalable, DDM system-compatible IP management

IP Central scales to support over 100 million IP components, enabling seamless publishing from any commercial or open-source design management system, including IC Manage GDP-XL, commercial platforms, and Git-compatible environments. It integrates with centralised bug tracking systems to trace bug histories across all IP versions and designs. Additionally, its time machine feature provides full traceability for every database operation, allowing users to easily recover any previous IP state.

“Companies have a goldmine of IP designs, but it is spread out over multiple data centers and repositories,” said Dean Drako, President & CEO of IC Manage.  “IP Central ensures that engineers across global teams have instant access to all available IP, even those they might not have known about – empowering them to choose the best possible IP for their designs.”

Central semiconductor IP catalogue with Google-like search and filters

IP Central offers a web-based UI for searching across hundreds of metadata fields, with most search results and IP datasheets loading in under a second. This intuitive interface also supports IP publication and generates management reports.

Unlike traditional PLM systems that require custom database programming, IP Central’s scalable architecture features a customisable metadata schema. Engineers can embed HTML links to documentation systems or verification trackers, creating a single IP window that consolidates all relevant information. Integrating live data from PLM and identity management systems ensures IP catalogue search results are always up to date.

IP Central enables IP lifecycle management optimisation

Authorised engineers can leverage IP Central to define the refinement and analysis stages required as an IP progresses through its lifecycle. They can set the specific criteria for advancing through each stage – from creation to publication – and assign which users or teams have permission to update each stage. IP Central also automates notifications, alerting IP owners or designated user groups whenever an IP transitions to a new stage.