Verilog accelerator introduced by IKOS

Electronic News, Feb 20, 1995

CUPERTINO, CALIF.--IKOS Systems is introducing the Gemini CSX system verification system for Verilog-based designs. The configuration combines the Verilog-XL simulator from Cadence Design Systems with the NSIM hardware accelerator developed by IKOS.

Gemini CSX will begin production shipments in 2Q95. The list price is $25,000 in the U.S. for a single-user floating license. Pricing on NSIM starts at $67,200 in the U.S. Integration of Verilog-XL and NSIM is achieved through an optimized co-simulation link, jointly developed by IKOS and Precedence, Inc. The resulting product targets high-performance, mixed-level simulation for ASIC and system design.

IKOS was developing an accelerator product for the Verilog market, Voyager VX, which essentially would have been a Verilog version of its Voyager Series software for VHDL design. Voyager VX would have accelerated Verilog gates within a VHDL environment. "We listened to the market ... and realized that Verilog designers want performance in the Verilog environment and not in the VHDL environment," IKOS stated.

"Our success and growth in the last year has been in the VHDL market," said Larry Melling, vice president of marketing at IKOS. What the company wanted to do was "take its core technology and provide a Verilog solution," he added.

"The number one thing that drove us into Verilog was our existing customer base," Mr. Melling said. "Half of our existing accelerator customers are already using Verilog. Gate-level customers were doing Verilog designs; a number quickly signed up to be beta sites (for Gemini CSX)."

IKOS claims Verilog gate-level simulations can run much faster using Gemini CSX--4-5X without optimization and 20x "with minor tweaking," Mr. Melling said. Verilog designers can move all or parts of their Verilog hardware description language design to NSIM while retaining full access to the debug capabilities of Verilog-XL from anywhere in the design hierarchy, according to IKOS.

"Gemini CSX addresses the performance needs of Verilog designers and allows them to remain in their familiar Verilog-XL design environment," said Yatin Trivedi, principal and co-founder of Seva Technologies, which evaluated a beta version of the product. "I was impressed with how easily I brought up a 30,000-gate Verilog design for evaluation and began using the Gemini tools right away."

Jay McMullan, principal engineer for Scientific-Atlanta, IKOS accelerators have been a key part of our verification method for years. We're very excited about Gemini CSX because it allows us to get a tighter integration of the NSIM hardware into our existing Verilog design flow."

Yukari Chin, director of product marketing at IKOS, said Gemini CSX can't support Verilog clone" simulators at the moment, unless they have more comprehensive compatibility with Verilog-XL. Gemini CSX should be easy to use for Verilog-XL users. "Verilog users should be able to drop it into their environment and bring it up within a day," Ms. Chin said.