Sequence taps Qualcore for SoC center in India

The design center is the last in a string of U.S. facilities to be set up here. CommWorks Corp. (Rolling Meadows, Ill.), a subsidiary of 3Com Corp., will invest about $12 million over the next three years in a technology center to be based here.

Sequence said its SoC center will allow it to provide Qualcore with software while Qualcore develops logical and physical design expertise. The combination will give Sequence insight into the quality and functionality of its software by applying tools to actual designs. It could also help conduct quality assura nce as well as library generation and validation for Sequence products.

Sequence COO Vic Kulkarni said the center will support development in power management, signal integrity and timing closure. Virtual IP and Qualcore "offer us additional design engineers highly skilled in SoC design," Kulkarni said.

M.L.N. Acharyulu, Qualcore's president and managing director, said the deal gives its customers access to a portfolio of more than 80 IP cores and logic as well as physical design teams on two continents.

The alliance is expected to broaden the scope of both companies' activities "by forging a symbiosis between the logical and physical design expertise of Qualcore and tool know-how of Sequence Design," said Dasaradha Gude, Qualcore's chairman and chief executive.

In October 2000, Sequence announced a strategic alliance with Virtual IP Group to deliver physical design-closure services for customers designing ICs with feature sizes belo w 180 nanometers.

Sequence, which specializes in bringing higher-performance and lower-power IC designs to tapeout quickly, was formed by the merger of Sente Inc., Sapphire Design Automation Inc. and Frequency Technology.

Virtual IP Group is a design foundry providing IP development, licensing and integration services as well as front- and back-end design services.

QualCore Logic is an Indian VLSI design house specializing in reusable core designs and SoC technology, ASIC design and integration services and physical design. Both Virtual IP Group and Qualcore Logic are subsidiaries of QualCore Group Inc. (Sunnyvale).

Meanwhile, CommWorks continued the migration of overseas technology companies here by announcing its first technology center in Asia. "The center augments our global capability to deliver quality products and services with emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region," said CommWorks president Irfan Ali. "We were looking for resources that are not available in the United States and in a cost-effective way."

The center will provide Commworks with additional R&D capability, reduce time-to-market through parallel development and facilitate potential joint development and acquisition opportunities in Asia. It will be managed by a local partner, Mascon Global Ltd.

CommWorks will use the center to be closer to its customers in China, Japan and South Korea, its fastest-growing markets in the region, Ali said. Starting with 30 engineers, it will gradually increase its staff to about 100 engineers.

Current projects at the center include second-generation wireless gateway development, voice-over-IP gateway sustaining and network management.