Imperas Supports Imagination's MIPS Cores With Fastest Ever Processor Model Simulation

QuantumLeap parallel simulation accelerator enables virtual platform performance of greater than 16 billion instructions per second, the fastest commercial solution available today

OXFORD, England-- February 04, 2014 -- Imperas Software Ltd. (www.imperas.com), the leader in high-performance software simulation, has added support for models of Imagination Technologies’ MIPS processors to QuantumLeap™, a parallel simulation performance accelerator. QuantumLeap leverages Imperas’ new synchronization algorithm to provide the fastest virtual platform software execution speed available today on standard, multi-core Personal Computer (PC) host machines. The Imperas technology – simulation plus processor core models – provides the MIPS ecosystem with the fastest software simulation solution in the industry.

The Imperas Open Virtual Platforms (OVP) models support the new architectural features of the MIPS Series5 Warrior generation of cores from Imagination. These new features include SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) operations with the MIPS SIMD Architecture (MSA) and hardware virtualization, key features of the new MIPS Warrior cores. The high-performance P-class P5600 has already been announced, with entry-level M-class cores and mid-range I-class cores to come later this year and broaden the Warrior generation lineup. Imagination and Imperas are collaborating on the development of the OVP processor core models to ensure the highest quality models for the MIPS community. The Imperas simulators support virtual platforms with both homogeneous processor cores, as well as heterogeneous platforms, for example with both the MIPS P5600 and other Imagination IP cores present.

"We're delighted to be working with Imperas to deliver the fastest Instruction Accurate (IA) simulation solution for our many MIPS partners,” said Tony King-Smith, EVP of marketing for Imagination Technologies. “We’ve been impressed how Imperas’ simulation technology significantly outperforms other commonly-used solutions. Faster simulation results in more tests being run, and therefore higher quality software being developed – and that’s good news for our extensive MIPS ecosystem community. Since acquiring MIPS, Imagination has committed to working more closely with innovative partners like Imperas to deliver superior CPU modelling solutions. As a result, we’re confident our MIPS licensees and many software ecosystem partners will have access to the best tools in the industry, enabling them to create the best possible software and products.”

In the server, home entertainment and mobile markets, most current System-on-Chip (SoC) devices incorporate multicore embedded processors coupled with hardware accelerators, all executing in parallel. The performance of existing, single-threaded virtual platform simulators does not adequately scale for these SoCs, creating a barrier to efficient virtual platform-based software development, debug and test.

Imperas Simulation Technology Performance Innovation

QuantumLeap eliminates this barrier by allocating the simulated cores across all the processors in a host machine. By ensuring the efficient synchronization of these cores, near linear scaling of the simulation across the multiple host processors has been observed, with the impact of inter-core communication kept to a minimum. Furthermore, QuantumLeap provides a transparent use model, with no change required to the software-under-test, the virtual platform models or the development environment, while ensuring fully deterministic simulation execution. The execution performance of this new technology has been measured on average at 15 times faster than the nearest commercial solution using standard benchmarks, running on a standard 3.4 GHz quad core host PC.

“Software quality is directly proportional to simulation speed,” noted Simon Davidmann, CEO of Imperas. “With QuantumLeap, we have enabled our users to take a significant step, a leap if you will, in embedded software testing.”

QuantumLeap allows full access to the Imperas Multi-core Software Development Kit (M*SDK) verification capabilities. The accelerator includes the ToolMorphing and SlipStreamer™ capabilities, such that the full tool suite operates with minimal impact to performance and no adverse affect on simulated software operation. QuantumLeap operates on platforms that incorporate both Asymmetric Multi-Processing (AMP) and Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) schemes. It has been designed to effectively handle the inter-core communication overhead challenges associated with the most complex SMP processor architectures including, for example, devices based on the state-of-the-art Imagination MIPS Warrior P5600 multi-core processors.

About Imperas

Imperas Software was founded in 2008 to develop and deliver embedded software development systems. The company’s comprehensive product line enables the rapid creation of high-performance virtual platforms and the efficient development of embedded software utilizing those platforms. Imperas’ technology allows for software engineering schedules to be significantly reduced while improving the quality of products relying on embedded systems. In 2008 Imperas founded the Open Virtual Platforms (OVP) consortium to improve the availability of open model libraries and virtual platform infrastructure. Leading communications, automotive, consumer electronics and embedded processor companies rely on Imperas for the development of their electronic products. The company’s corporate headquarters is located near Oxford, UK and it maintains support and sales organizations in Silicon Valley, California and Tokyo, Japan. For more information about Imperas, please go to www.imperas.com.