Sunplus Core Technology Speeds ProtoType Verification of Multimedia ICs with SpringSoft's ProtoLink Probe Visualizer

HSINCHU, Taiwan, August 9, 2011 — SpringSoft, Inc., a global supplier of specialized IC design software, today announced that Sunplus Core Technology Co., Ltd. (“SCT”) has accelerated prototype verification of surveillance ICs using the ProtoLink™ Probe Visualizer. Engineers at the Taiwan-based IC design firm specializing in programmable platform solutions have realized dramatic gains in debug productivity for 65-nanometer (nm) design prototypes.

SCT offers 32-bit embedded processor and VLIW DSP chips for a broad range of multimedia applications with rich features, such as networking, audio/video codec and many other capabilities. To ensure that these chips function correctly, FPGA-based prototype boards from S2C are used for hardware verification, software integration, and system validation of key IP blocks, design modules and entire chips. By deploying SpringSoft’s new Probe Visualizer with off-the-shelf prototype boards, SCT engineers are able to increase design visibility and simplify debug of high-speed, low-power chip designs and interfaces for a variety of camera, LCD monitor and microphone/speaker systems.

For recent design projects, Probe Visualizer enabled SCT engineers to capture around 400 signals over as many as 15 million cycles, add/change more than 10 probes in just minutes saving hours of setup time, and rapidly debug the root cause of design problems at the register transfer level (RTL) with SpringSoft’s Verdi™ Automated Debug System. In addition, engineers no longer had to manually map gate-level code to the RTL source for debug, a process which previously had been both error-prone and time-consuming using debug tools provided by the FPGA vendor.

“Multimedia ICs are pushing the limits of functionality and system integration today to power the next-generation of high quality, intelligent surveillance systems. Because these chips are more complex than ever before, prototype verification is now a critical part of the development methodology,” said Henry Lee, CTO from Sunplus Core Technology. “While current FPGA debug solutions do not adequately address the magnitude of this challenge, SpringSoft’s ProtoLink approach helps to reduce the verification burden with better visibility and cuts debug time by one third to one week for faster debug turnaround.”  

 “For companies like Sunplus Core Technology, it is imperative that design complexity and debug tools don’t get in the way of prototype verification,” said Howard Mao, senior director at SpringSoft. “ProtoLink uses intuitive, software-based methods to reduce the time and manpower required to setup, validate and debug designs on FPGA boards, enabling prototype deployment sooner in the verification cycle. We are pleased to see the results SCT engineers have achieved and confident they will continue to reap productivity and time-to-market benefits as they apply ProtoLink Probe to new design projects.”

About SpringSoft

SpringSoft, Inc. (TAIEX: 2473) is a global supplier of specialized automation technologies that accelerate engineers during the design, verification and debug of complex digital, analog and mixed-signal ICs, ASICs, microprocessors, and SoCs. Its award-winning product portfolio features the Novas™ Functional Closure and Laker™ Custom IC Design solutions used by more than 400 of today's leading IDM and fabless semiconductor companies, foundries, and electronic systems OEMs. Headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, SpringSoft is the largest company in Asia specializing in IC design software and a recognized industry leader in customer service with more than 400 employees located in multiple R&D sites and local support offices around the world. For more information, visit www.springsoft.com.