IP integration is a quality issue

Richard Goering, EE Times
(03/29/2006 8:57 PM EST)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Enabling silicon intellectual property (IP) integration is as significant a quality concern as designing bug-free IP in the first place, said panelists at the International Symposium on the Quality of Electronic Design (ISQED) here Tuesday. One implication: IP is as much a services business as a commodity.

Panelists were quick to distinguish between concerns about bugs and integration problems. Integration is more intangible, said John Goodenough, director of design technology at ARM Ltd., and in some ways more challenging. "We can't anticipate every integration scenario," he said.

Guri Stark, vice president of marketing for Synopsys' solutions group, emphasized that IP is not a "sell and forget" type of business. Even if an IP provider does a perfect job with respect to verification, validation, and protocol compliance, it doesn't guarantee the IP works with your design, Stark said.

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