Simplify IP integration
-- EDN, January 4, 2001
The Synplify Pro synthesis package from Synplicity supports designers integrating IP (intellectual property) into high-density FPGAs. The new release adds support for FPGA designs containing both Verilog and VHDL modules and for IP cores whose timing is modeled in the Stamp format, improving timing performance in designs using presynthesized IP.
The product includes new quality-of-results improvements for Xilinx Virtex-II FPGAs, including dynamic SRL (shift-register-look-up) support, automatic inference of up/down counters, and support for simultaneous read and write for block RAMs. The software automatically infers sequential-shift components and then implements them as an SRL table, significantly improving performance in designs using these components. Synplify Pro also supports the Xilinx (www.xilinx.com) modular- design flow. Design teams can now easily define modular boundaries for each team member and generate separate netlists and constraints for each section of the design. This approach is important in the design of complex devices in which designers must incrementally or at separate locations complete portions of the design.
The new release also contains several new quality-of-results improvements for Altera's (www.altera.com) Apex-20KE family of devices. These improvements include automatic inference of up/down counters, timing optimization, mapping of cascade/carry chains, automatic inferencing of ROMs, mapping to LPM ROMs, and NativeLink support for Unix.
The product also supports Triscend's (www.triscend.com) A7 and E5 device families, which offer a configurable system-on-chip approach to high-performance, customizable system applications. It also supports the Actel (www.actel.com) 54SXS and eX families, Lattice (www.latticesemi.com) SuperFast and SuperWide families, Lucent (www.lucent.com) Orca4 family, and Quicklogic (www.quicklogic.com) QuickDSP family. Price for Synplify Pro 6.1 starts at $19,000, and Synplify 6.1 costs $9000.
Synplify, www.synplicity.com.
-by Gabe Moretti
