Video: Where hardware and software collide

Dylan McGrath, EE Times
(04/03/2009 8:55 PM EDT)

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Chipmakers are taking on responsibility for the development of more embedded software, resulting in a clash of cultures between hardware designers and software developers and necessitating a more system-level approach to design, according to executives on a panel discussion at ESC Silicon Valley this week.
Chris Rowen, chief technology officer at chip and IP vendor Tensilica Inc., said his company tackles this clashing of cultures by work with both sides to understand what pressures they are under—reliability and flexibility on the hardware side, and power efficiency and cost on the software side.

Ultimately, Rowen said, program managers and system designers or whoever is responsible for the combination hardware and software deliverable is the "ultimate arbitrator in how you bring these two together." Rowen added that the emergence of multicore architecture has contributed to the blurring of hardware and software design.

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