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CoWare is the leading global supplier of
platform-driven electronic system-level
(ESL) design software and services. IP, semiconductor, and electronics
companies use CoWare ESL 2.0 solutions to
design better processor- and software-intensive products faster.
CoWare solutions solve the new design challenges associated with
platform architecture design, platform verification, application
sub-system design, processor design, DSP algorithm design, and
software development , and are based on open industry standards
including SystemC. These solutions also enable IP and semiconductor
companies to implement more effective go-to-market strategies.
Platform-Driven ESL Design
Multimedia convergence, particularly in the consumer electronics
markets, drives the need for increasingly complex product architectures.
The ability to record and play back multiple video streams, high-quality
audio, high-speed wireless communications, and many other applications
drive the need for designing complex, multicore SoCs with multiple
busses and processors and a mix of complex peripherals. At the
same time, the software content of these devices has been growing
exponentially.
As a result of this convergence, IP, semiconductor and electronics
companies are changing their product development strategies to
successfully address market demands. They have shifted from developing
individual products to creating product "platforms." A
product platform defines a basic architecture that is used to
derive multiple products over time. A cell phone product platform,
for example, may be under development for two to three years,
and once completed, it can be used to derive as many as 50 different
cell phone products per year for another three or more years.
ESL 2.0
ESL 2.0 refers to a second generation of ESL solutions, which
aim to facilitate the design and development of processor-centric,
software-intensive products with complex interconnect and memory
architectures, in a production environment.
The need for ESL 2.0 has been created by the break down of old
design methods and the emergence of new design challenges led
by the need to design better products faster using multi-core
designs. It also aims at breaking the isolation of each design/development
team and enables enterprises to get better designed-into customer
products sooner. Virtual hardware platforms are at the core of
ESL 2.0, which is characterized by the combination of the following:
- The application of ESL technologies and methodologies
to a larger community of users including architect and hardware
development teams (at the origin of ESL), and now extended
to software development, system integration, and test teams.
- The rapid rollout and use of these technologies
and methodologies in a production environment.
- The use of virtual hardware platforms by the
larger enterprise and its ecosystem through marketing and business
development functions.
Solutions and Products
CoWare offering includes products, services and IP models supporting
six platform-based design solutions (Platform Architecture Design,
Platform Verification, Application Sub-system Design, Processor
Design, DSP Algorithm Design, and Software Development). CoWare
products are:
- CoWare
Platform Architect is the SystemC-based graphical environment
for capturing the entire product platform. It also
provides the dashboard for initiating the platform analysis
functions.
- CoWare
Model Designer is the SystemC-based modeling and simulation
environment for capturing and verifying complex blocks
of IP.
- CoWare Virtual
Platform is a self-contained package
platform simulation for distribution to software development
team as a better alternative to development boards
- CoWare
Model Library is an extensive library of processor,
bus, and peripheral models that are commonly used in product
platforms.
- CoWare
Processor Designer enables the creation of custom
processors or programmable hardware accelerators and their
models so they can be incorporated into product platforms.
- CoWare
Signal Processing Designer enables
the design and analysis of complex signal processing algorithms
and exports these algorithm implementations as blocks that
can be incorporated in product platforms.
CoWare's offering also benefits from an extensive list of ecosystem
partners increasing the capabilities delivered to our customers.
CoWare is a co-founder of the Open SystemC Initiative (OSCI).
This initiative was established as a modeling platform that enables,
promotes and accelerates system-level co-design and IP exchange.
For more information, visit www.systemc.org.
Founded in 1996, CoWare is the leader in ESL design. CoWare's
corporate investors include ARM [(LSE: ARM); (NASDAQ: ARMHY)],
Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS), STMicroelectronics (NYSE:
STM), and Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE). Our worldwide offices
include R&D facilities in the United States, Belgium, Germany,
and India. CoWare products are in use today at the major IP,
semiconductors and electronics companies including Alcatel, Boeing,
Canon, Freescale, Fujitsu, IBM, InterDigital, LG, Matsushita,
Motorola, Samsung, Sanyo, Sony, STMicroelectronics, Tensilica
and Toshiba.
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