Mentor Graphics Launches Next Generation Veloce2 Emulation Platform with VirtuaLAB Capabilities

In addition, a new concept called Veloce VirtuaLAB gives verification engineers access to easy-to-use, software-based peripherals, connected to the Veloce platform, which provide a “virtual lab” environment to verify complex electronics systems including the embedded software and the SoCs that make up the system prior to first silicon availability.

Veloce2 is built upon the totally new, full custom emulation IC, Crystal2, developed from the ground up by Mentor. Delivering fast compile, full debug visibility, and advanced memory modeling, Crystal2 is at the heart of the Veloce2 platform’s performance and capacity gains. The Crystal-based Veloce architecture is highly scalable with impressive performance and capacity gains in the same physical footprint and power signature.

The Veloce2 software suite is backward compatible with first-generation Veloce emulators, boosting the productivity of current Veloce customers and preserving their investment while extending the useful life of their Veloce hardware. Future generations of Veloce will adhere to this common software philosophy, making Veloce emulators an excellent long-term investment.

The Veloce VirtuaLAB builds on the emulator’s ability to run hardware designs written in RTL at megahertz speeds. By integrating RTL models of key peripherals like USB, Ethernet, PCIe and the like, the Veloce VirtuaLAB is able to create a full target environment that allows developers to validate both the hardware and embedded software, before any hardware is manufactured. This significantly accelerates product development cycles. Because the Veloce VirtuaLAB is entirely software-based, it is easily replicated to support multiple software and hardware developers simultaneously. Previously, system developers had to connect physical peripherals to the emulator via hardware speed adaptors, making the process cumbersome and expensive to support multiple users simultaneously. In effect, Veloce VirtuaLAB takes the emulator out of the lab environment and moves it into a data center environment where the resource can be shared across multiple projects and geographies. Veloce VirtuaLAB peripherals are available for most popular protocols, such as multimedia video/audio standards, Gigabit Ethernet, USB, PCI Express, SATA, and SAS with more to come.

The fourfold productivity increase of Veloce2 in concert with VirtuaLAB peripherals provides an ideal environment for software and hardware engineers to verify the embedded software and SoC components of a variety of products such as high-end CPUs, network switches/routers, digital set-top boxes, tablet PCs, netbooks, smartphones, digital cameras and other electronic products.

”Mentor is once again leading the way in emulation by delivering pioneering solutions that can be easily used and expanded across multiple design teams for the verification of complex electronic systems,” said Eric Selosse, vice president and general manager of the Mentor® Emulation Division. “Veloce2 and VirtuaLAB, our next-generation of plug-and-play peripherals, further enhance our position as the premier vendor of complete emulation solutions.”

Product Availability
The Veloce2 platform and Veloce VirtuaLAB are available immediately, and are currently deployed in production-worthy validation flows at multiple customer sites.