Make your spec seamless
-- EDN, January 4, 2001
Version 3.3 of Verisity's Specman Elite features better integration with Mentor Graphics' (www.mentorg.com) Seamless hardware/software co-verification environment and an improved interface with both Denali's (www.denalisoft.com) Memory Modeler and Novas' (www.novas.com) Debussy debugging system. In addition, the new release includes integration with waveform viewers from Model Technology's (www.model.com) ModelSim; Cadence's (www.cadence.com) Signalscan, and Synopsys' (www.synopsys.com) VirSim; support for shared libraries and C++; enhanced VHDL support; and support for the commercial release of Linux.
The integration between Specman Elite and Mentor Graphics' Seamless hardware/software co-verification environment gives Specman Elite full visibility and controllability of software symbols for test generation, checking, coverage, and debugging, as well as access to the state of Seamless' coherent memory. This feature enables users to test the interdependencies between the hardware and the embedded software and to identify potential problems.
Specman Elite's interface to Denali's Memory Modeler enables users to directly access the memory model from their testbench to verify that their system behaves correctly with their memory component. One of the key features of the integration is the ability to program the memory model to call Specman Elite when an event occurs. The calls enable Specman Elite's automated test generation to capture corner cases based on the current state of individual memory locations.
Through the enhanced integration with debugging tools, customers can view their testbench objects at a transaction level in the waveform display alongside their HDL. For example, the waveform viewers can display packets alongside the corresponding signals to allow users to see high-level properties of the packet.
Specman Elite Version 3.3 supports Cadence's Verilog-XL, Affirma, and Leapfrog simulators; Quickturn's (www.quickturn.com) SpeedSim cycle simulator; Model Technology's ModelSim simulator; and Synopsys' (www.synopsys.com) VCS. Specman Elite 3.3 is available on Solaris, HP-UX, and Linux operating systems. The price is $40,000 for a floating LAN license.
Verisity, www.verisity.com.
-by Gabe Moretti
