Synopsys Honors Accellera Systems Initiative with 2012 Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award

Since 2000, the two organizations have developed standards that are widely used in the semiconductor industry; Accellera developed SystemVerilog, Unified Power Format and IP-XACT; and OSCI developed SystemC and TLM-2.0. These standards are underlying formats that enable interoperability among design and verification tools, allowing engineers to go from system level design to final signoff. With large overlap in their membership and the need to collaborate to enhance current standards for increasing complexity of future designs, the two organizations merged in 2011.

We are honored to accept the Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award, said Dr. Shishpal Rawat, Accellera Systems Initiative chair. We continue to strive for developing standards that enable interoperability across the entire design flow. The new organization will offer uniform policies and procedures leading to operational efficiencies in developing and promoting EDA and IP standards across the entire design and verification flow.

In recent years, the user community has sought solutions that demanded greater interaction between OSCI and Accellera standards, namely SystemC and SystemVerilog respectively. With significant similarities in the two organizations' membership and in their goals of taking standards through IEEE for broader adoption around the world, it became clear that the combined organization could serve the user community more efficiently.As a result, all of the standards development effort will be done in technical sub-committees governed by one set of policies and procedures, and following a uniform IP Rights policy. The streamlined development process will provide for better standards, which will enable interoperable tools and comprehensive methodologies for system and system-on-chip designers.

OSCI and Accellera have played important roles in developing open, inclusive standards for system and SoC designers, said Rich Goldman, vice president of corporate marketing and strategic market development at Synopsys. We applaud their merger to broaden the member collaboration under one single organizational umbrella.