Aldec, SFM

New SFM dramatically increases network based design verification

News Release from: Aldec, Inc.
02/05/2006

Aldec, known for its mixed-language simulation and advanced design tools for ASIC and FPGA devices, has announced the release of Server Farm Manager (SFM). The new product dramatically increases network based design verification by automating the set-up, execution and analysis of simulation results from hundreds of computers running thousands of test cases and providing automated pass/fail results and reporting.

Due to the complexity of contemporary designs, there is a need for extensive testing. Since manual test bench generation is being replaced by automatic tools, verification is becoming even a greater bottleneck and adding additional simulators only increases the complexity of the verification process. Regression automation, based on SFM, shifts the paradigm and provides automatic management of thousands of parallel simulations from one web based interface. SFM not only queues and distributes execution, but it also collects simulation results, compares the results to golden reference and provides global access to all reports via the intranet. "The problem is not the purchasing of additional simulator licenses; it is how to manage a large number of HDL simulators in order to increase overall productivity when running the regression test suite," stated Dave Rinehart V.P. of Marketing at Aldec, adding "Regression Automation eliminates many of the administrative tasks companies face when running a large test suite over tens, hundreds or thousands of simulators. Each time a design iteration occurs, the entire test suite must be executed again and this is very time consuming. SFM automates this process." Rinehart added.

Aldec's Server Farm Manager (SFM) is a web based system that allows global companies to receive reports about the status of all regressions at any time during the design process. It allows companies to increase their overall productivity and tighten control over the product quality and delivery status. SFM schedules hundreds of thousands of independent test cases, distributes them across the network, and executes them in parallel. This allows organizations to painlessly overcome verification challenges in complex SOC projects that may include embedded processors, memories, IP blocks and legacy code.

The verification run times can be reduced dramatically both through parallel execution and optimum resource utilization. The solution is fully scalable from a few dozen to several thousand machines. As the requirements for simulation throughput increase towards tape-out deadline, simulation servers can be easily added over the network. SFM automatically manages all simulation licenses and provides companies a utility to leverage 32 or 64bit computers. All tasks can be scheduled to run after hours in order to utilize simulation licenses 24 hours a day.

Server Farm Manager (SFM) Licenses are available as term-based or perpetual. Product configurations that include Aldec simulator are also available in a bundled configuration. Users can add their existing HDL simulator licenses at no additional cost to increase the power of the regression testing environment built around the SFM product. SFM is sold directly by Aldec, Inc. in the U.S. and by authorized international distributors. For more information, please visit: www.aldec.com