By Chris Edwards
theiet.org (March 1, 2010)
In the ten years or so that it has taken for design reuse, or design with IP, to go from a niche interest to mainstream chip implementation, teams have developed an understanding of what it can do for them, and how to budget accordingly. However, there are still surprises to be negotiated, as some aspects of design reuse are counter-intuitive, especially when it comes to reusing some piece of IP developed in-house in another chip. Designers found this out at the end of last years as they converged on the IP-ESC event in Grenoble, France - the main conference for IP-based design in Europe.
For starters, there is a design-time cost just in integrating the IP, which Andrea Fortunato, director of professional services at design-analytics specialist Numetrics, estimates at a minimum of 10 per cent.