Cadence Introduces Incisive Enterprise Verifier, Delivering Dual Power of Formal Analysis and Simulation Engines

SAN JOSE, Calif., 05 Oct 2009 -- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), the leader in global electronic design innovation, today at CDNLive! Silicon Valley introduced Cadence Incisive Enterprise Verifier (IEV), an integrated verification solution delivering unique new capabilities with the dual power of formal analysis and simulation engines. IEV can help design and verification engineers find deep corner-case bugs and hit elusive coverage points missed by stand-alone formal or simulation. IEV increases productivity through faster bring-up of designs and faster bug detection, boosts predictability by generating more metrics to assist with verification closure, and improves quality by finding more bugs in the design.

The integration of simulation and formal capabilities within IEV allows engineers to leverage assertions in new ways. The same assertions used in formal analysis can be used automatically by the simulation engine to generate new stimulus for the design. Further, IEV can automatically switch back and forth between the formal and simulation engines to leverage both the rapid design exploration of simulation and the verification thoroughness of formal analysis. Design and verification engineers get a higher return from assertions, and adoption is easier because IEV provides powerful formal analysis in a familiar simulation environment. (Click for video of IEV product announcement.)

“We use both formal analysis and testbench simulation based on a multi-language approach in our standard verification flow,” said Mirella Negro Marcigaglia, MMS Microcontroller Division verification manager, at STMicroelectronics. “Incisive Enterprise Verifier combines these technologies to accelerate tasks that we used to perform much later in the development process, thereby reducing our project verification time.”

IEV enables the detection of more bugs and the exercise of more coverage metrics early in the project, before a testbench is available. IEV’s tight integration of simulation and formal provides capabilities far beyond existing “hybrid” offerings in the market. Unique features include easier setup, automatic operation for most users, fine-grained control for expert users, and assertion debug capabilities. IEV also includes support for verification planning, regression operation on server farms, multi-core performance improvements, and consolidation of metrics gathered from regression runs. IEV links seamlessly to Incisive Enterprise Manager for metric-driven verification across large projects.

“The challenge of performing thorough, efficient verification on today’s designs is growing right along with the size and complexity of the designs themselves,” said Tom Anderson, product marketing director for Enterprise Verification at Cadence. “Incisive Enterprise Verifier should be of interest to any company seeking to boost its verification program. This new product expands the scope of assertion-based verification, finding more bugs and driving more quickly toward verification closure.”

Incisive Enterprise Verifier will be discussed Thursday in a customer presentation at the CDNLive! Silicon Valley conference. Details and registration information is available at www.cdnlive.com.

Availability

Incisive Enterprise Verifier (IEV) is available immediately.

About Cadence

Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software and hardware, methodologies, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.