Wind River Introduces Simics 4.6

Electronic systems, having become exponentially more complex in recent years, often contain multiple heterogeneous processors and multi-core processors, running multiple software stacks and operating systems. In addition, they are usually part of a larger connected system via a local bus, rack, network or the Internet. Because of this increased level of complexity and connectivity, traditional development tools and processes are often less effective when designing, debugging, integrating, and testing these entire systems.



Wind River Simics breaks the traditional model of embedded product development by providing a common development environment for a complete system, even if that system is comprised of boards that use different target architectures and operating systems from different vendors. This environment, referred to as a virtual platform, enables unmodified target software (i.e. firmware, OS, middleware, application) to run on the virtual platform the same way that it does on the physical hardware.



Primary new features of Simics 4.6 include the following:



Expands the scope of its unique full system simulation with integrated Eclipse source code debugging, which takes advantage of Simics’ reverse execution capability and operating system awareness to cover heterogeneous target systems, including system-wide, high-level applications.

Enables effective team collaboration by making it possible to easily share a complete electronic system and its entire state, which increases efficiency and accelerates software development and testing. The new collaboration enhancements allow teams that are geographically or functionally separated to collaborate more efficiently.

Allows target system visualization and surveillance. Customizable graphical output allows for virtual representation of the end system’s interface and visual runtime status, which makes it easier to expose key features, engage early with end-users and to supervise and understand the behavioral aspects of the target.

Runs any target software, including any commercial or in-house operating system. Runs the same target software as what runs on the physical hardware.

Supports a variety of hardware architectures, including ARM, Intel®, MIPS® and Power Architecture™.



Wind River Simics takes the complexity out of traditional embedded development and supports the entire product lifecycle from system definition through product support, said Michel Genard, vice president of product strategy and marketing for Simics at Wind River. This allows developers to improve the way they develop, debug, and test electronic systems providing a significant impact on important business metrics like time to market, costs, and product quality.