LSI Logic Achieves Breakthrough in Embedding Programmability Into System-on-a-Chip Products

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Embedded Processor Forum today, LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE: LSI) announced the immediate availability of the LiquidLogic(TM) core, an embedded programmable logic technology that can be used in both application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and application-specific standard product (ASSP) system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. This capability provides designers the best of both ASIC and programmable technologies: the flexibility and reconfigurability of programmable logic, and the low cost, low power, high density and high performance of ASICs and ASSPs.

``LSI Logic's LiquidLogic capability is a landmark in SoC integration. By successfully incorporating reconfigurable logic on an SoC platform, new types of products become feasible,'' said Ronnie Vasishta, vice president of Technology Marketing at LSI Logic. ``Our extensive experience with integrating intellectual property into SoC designs was key in this endeavor. This expertise allowed LSI Logic to develop a fully reconfigurable technology for SoC, which includes a logic core, dedicated point tools and a comprehensive design methodology.''

Available now as an addition to LSI Logic's CoreWare® library of intellectual property, the LiquidLogic core is being presented this week at the Embedded Processor Forum as a key component of a complex chip being developed by LSI Logic and a major communications system company. The ASIC is a single chip implementation of a digital signal processor (DSP)-based subsystem for third generation (3G) wireless base stations. The chip uses LSI Logic's ZSP(TM) digital signal processor core, with the LiquidLogic core functioning as a slave co-processor to the ZSP.

At the heart of the LiquidLogic core is the programmable logic core (PLC) technology licensed from Adaptive Silicon, Inc.(ASI), an intellectual property developer located in Los Gatos, California. The core and its associated design tools are fully integrated into LSI Logic's FlexStream® design system. The integration methodology also includes a unique two-stage timing closure flow that permits reconfiguration of the LiquidLogic core throughout the entire design process. Reconfiguration is possible even when the final chip is installed in customer systems.

``This technology represents an inflection point in the microelectronics industry,'' said Sherry Garber, senior vice president, Semico Research Corporation. ``The effects of incorporating programmable logic into an SoC design flow will move the industry closer to feasible system-on-a-chip much as the introduction of gate array technology did when LSI Logic pioneered it in the early 1980s.''

The most significant advantage of the LiquidLogic core is its inherent flexibility. By partitioning an SoC design into fixed and reconfigurable portions, various control, processing or interface blocks can be transferred from a hardware implementation into the software domain. This provides tremendous opportunity to system designers and overcomes the issues associated with having to have unique designs for minor functional variants. An SoC with a LiquidLogic core can also receive upgrades that enhance the entire system's quality, reliability and functionality.

``Leading customers in the communications, consumer, storage and computing markets have expressed keen interest in this breakthrough technology, with communications leading the charge,'' said Pete Gasperini, product marketing manager in LSI Logic's Technology Marketing Division. ``Our customers are already outstripping our expectations and quickly evolving new uses for the LiquidLogic core. The innovations made possible by incorporating reconfigurable logic within ASICs are just beginning to emerge.''

About LSI Logic Corporation

LSI Logic is a leading designer and manufacturer of communications and storage semiconductors for applications that access, interconnect and store data, voice and video. In addition, the company supplies storage network solutions for the enterprise. LSI Logic is headquartered at 1551 McCarthy Boulevard, Milpitas, CA, 95035, 866-574-5741, http://www.lsilogic.com .

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