Product category:
Design and Development Software
News Release from: Synplicity | Subject: Identify 1.3
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 18 December 2003
Software speeds RTL debugging
Synplicity has enhanced its Identify RTL debugging software to further accelerate FPGA hardware debugging.
Synplicity has enhanced its Identify RTL debugging software to further accelerate FPGA hardware debugging The Identify 1.3 software features a new source code encapsulation and encryption feature that provides designers with better access to source code and makes source code more secure
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 16 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The latest version of the Identify software features support of additional devices from Altera and Xilinx, demonstrating Synplicity's commitment to support leading devices from FPGA vendors.
The Identify software also features multiple debugger synchronisation, enabling multiple debuggers to run on a single PC while accessing the same hardware.
Additional features within the Identify software include Verilog 2001 support and black box attribute support.
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"We believe our RTL debugging software is an ideal choice for designers of highly complex FPGA designs who need a verification solution that runs at full-speed", said Brian Caslis, Director of Marketing, Synplicity.
"We believe our Identify software continues to raise the bar for verification products by offering enhanced features based on customer requests and by supporting industry-leading devices such as Altera's Cyclone and Xilinx's Spartan-3 families".
The Identify RTL debugging software has been enhanced with the addition of a new source code encapsulation and encryption feature.
This new ability to encapsulate or package the RTL source for debugging allows designers to easily transfer projects to PCs in a lab without network access.
The new version of the software also uses Blowfish encryption technology to optionally allow the RTL source code to be encrypted, allowing designers to debug hardware even in insecure environments.
This version of the Identify software also features multiple debugger synchronisation, allowing multiple debuggers to be run on the same PC, talking to the same hardware board via a single JTAG connection and waiting for triggers to happen.
This feature is especially useful on boards with multiple devices where designers want to test for multiple asynchronous conditions.
In addition to the software's new support for Altera's Cyclone and Xilinx's Spartan-3 FPGAs, additional devices supported by the Identify 1.3 software include Altera Apex, Apex-II and Stratix FPGAs; Actel's ProASIC and ProASIC Plus FPGAs; and Xilinx Spartan-II, Spartan-IIE, Virtex, Virtex-E, Virtex-II and Virtex-II Pro FPGAs.
"Synplicity's Identify software provides a nice compliment to our ISE 6.1i design environment, giving customers enhanced capabilities that can significantly shorten the time required for design debug", said Jerry Banks, Director of Global Alliances at Xilinx.
"Our close relationship with Synplicity ensures our customers have access to software tools that deliver the high level of performance and productivity that is required to maximise the performance benefits of our Spartan and Virtex FPGA families".
Synplicity has added Verilog black-box support capabilities to the Identify software, enabling the tool to read the same directives or tags in Verilog code that designate a module as a black box as Synplicity's Synplify synthesis software.
This eliminates the need to remove a module that would normally be treated as a black box.
The Identify software also features greater synchronisation between the tool and the Synplify software, allowing designers to seamlessly write a project out of Identify and read it into the Synplify software.
Identify 1.3 software is available now.
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