Improving Interoperability through S/W Licensing and Standards Adoption

Kent Moffat
Mentor Graphics
kent_moffat@mentorg.com
503-685-4702

The need for interoperability among EDA tools has long been acutely felt. In his DAC keynote address, William Spencer, chairman of Sematech Inc. (Austin, Texas), rallied rank-and-file engineers to demand open systems with common data-exchange protocols in both internal and commercial EDA tools. "If we could focus on interoperability we could make a major change in productivity," he said. The lack of standards and tool interoperability in the IC and ASIC design flow has created a disparate and unconnected tool environment, which is causing a crisis in deep-submicron design. Today, there's no easy way to transfer design intent among tools, no consistent timing mechanism throughout the flow, and a need for multiple iterations between synthesis and layout. This paper elaborates on a variety of approaches Mentor Graphics is pursuing to improve interoperability. Specifically, through S/W licensing, integration testing and qualification, the support and adoption of standards, as well as the inclusion of those standards in Mentor Graphics' IC/ASIC design tools. Most notably, Mentor Graphics has established broad cross-licensing agreements with a number of EDA companies (among them Cadence and Synopsys) to facilitate the development of interfaces, and ensure interoperability through testing and qualification of multiple-vendor design flows. These agreements mark the end of the "stand-off" among EDA companies who, for competitive reasons, refused to exchange tools in the past. Secondly, Mentor Graphics is aggressively driving the effort to formalize standards including, but not limited to: the IEEE 1364 Verilog standard, the OLA/ALF library standard, the IEEE 1481 DPCS standard and VITAL 98, as well as participating in standards-oriented groups such as VSIA. To clearly emphasize its commitment to the adoption of standards, Mentor Graphics is modifying existing products to support the standards as they emerge.

Bio:
Kent Moffat is a 13 year veteran of Mentor Graphics in various marketing, engineering, and consulting roles. Today Kent is manager of the Solutions Partnerships organization which is responsible for EDA standards development, the OpenDoor program and Silicon Vendor Operations. Kent holds a BSEE degree from Stanford University and a B.A. in Physics from Willamette University.