Achieving first day multicore SoC software success

Update: ARM to Offer Cycle-Accurate Virtual Prototyping for Complex SoCs Through an Asset Acquisition from Carbon Design Systems (October 20, 2015)

Bill Neifert, Carbon Design Systems
EETimes (2/1/2011 2:01 PM EST)

The past few years have seen a dramatic shift in how companies design and market their system-on-chip (SoC) offerings.  Designs that used to contain large amounts of homegrown or internal intellectual property (IP) are becoming increasingly reliant upon pre-built blocks from third-party suppliers.  It’s not uncommon for a new SoC design to contain 80-90% of its content from outside suppliers.

This shift is forcing companies to rethink how their products are differentiated from competitive offerings.  When the vast majority of the design is based upon components that can be used by anyone, how do you make your product stand out?

In response to this trend, companies are seeking differentiation in a few key areas, including architectural configuration, software features and time to market. 

Architectural configuration is the process of assembling the SoC IP from disparate sources in such a way that the configuration options and overall layout maximize the designer’s goals that can range from faster throughput to lower power consumption to overall cost optimization. 

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