TVS extends CPU Verification Capability

Bristol, UK -- April 15, 2015 –TVS, a leader in software test and hardware verification solutions, today announced an extension of its CPU verification capability.

TVS provides expertise to help companies ensure their hardware and software based products are reliable, safe and secure. At the heart of most products is a CPU core which will implement a variety of complex performance enhancements such as pipelines, multiple instruction issue, out-or-order execution, and branch prediction as well as the usual memory access acceleration such as caching. These enhancements can break the functional correctness of the core and so require specialist verification techniques including constrained random instruction stream execution. Using this technique small assembler programs are generated for execution on the core. Verification expertise and tools are required to generate programs which verify the corner cases created by those complex performance enhancements.

TVS has historically had expertise in CPU verification both advising and supporting a number of companies on their CPU verification strategies and execution. TVS has now extended this capability with the development of a new Instruction Stream Generation tool (asureISG) and a new team of CPU verification engineers delivering CPU verification services.

Mike Bartley, CEO of TVS, commented “I am very excited about this announcement. CPUcores are increasingly complex to verify and TVS are now able to better support our clients by adding tools and execution resources to our existing CPU verification strategy services.”

The TVS asureISG tool will initially support single CPU core verification but will soon be enhanced with multi core support. The semiconductor industry now uses multiple cores to add performance to SoCs and products and those cores often shares resources such as caches. Hence the need for multiple instruction streams that are generated by a tool that understands the potential bugs in the management of those shared resources.

Further information on TVS’s products and services is available at www.testandverification.com.

About TVS

TVS (Test and Verification Solutions Ltd) provides expertise to help companies ensure their hardware and software based products are reliable, safe and secure.. Such organisations use TVS to verify their hardware and software products, employ industry best practice and manage peaks in development and testing programmes. TVS’ embedded software testing services includes onsite/offshore testing support including assistance with safety certification and security testing. TVS’ hardware verification services include onsite/offshore verification support and training in advanced verification methodologies. TVS also offers Verification IPs, its own Verification (EDA) signoff tool and a CPU verification tool asureISG.