Rotten to the Core — Part 2: Soft and Vanilla or Hard and Cryptic?

Introduction

In Part 1 of my article about IP core development, I explored the basic ideas and processes involved in selecting an IP core vendor. We looked into how to reduce risk, how to write the Lore (the requirements specification) that spells out all the major technical details required to design the core, and how to pick a reliable developer. Part 2 now takes a look under the hood, by which I mean that now we want to explore how a core is developed. This includes aspects of responsibility, the various types of core deliverables, verification environments, and steps to take to verify what you get, and how to stay on track once a project is under way.