First Silicon Solutions Announces the FS2 Navigator® Suite of OCI® Enabled Tools

PORTLAND, OR   - March 13- First Silicon Solutions (FS2®) is announcing an expanded suite of tools under the name FS2 Navigator®.

Taking aim squarely at the emerging market for embedded applications, FS2 Navigator is a comprehensive suite of tools for system-on-chip (SoC) design that promises solutions starting with
pre-silicon verification and running all the way to end customer application software development and debugging. The result is accelerated time to market by allowing pre-and post-silicon validation of SoC design at the same time as application development.
 

The FS2 Navigator Suite of Tools includes:

•  Silicon IP & Custom Development
•  FS2 BlackBox® Debug Probes
•  Custom Debug Tools
•  Software Debuggers and Tool Chains
•  Evaluation Platforms

Adopters of the latest OCI® Technology
Adopters of the new FS2 Navigator OCI® (On-chip Instrumentation) enabled tools include: National Semiconductor, MIPS Technologies, Parthus, Mentor Graphics, VAutomation, Actel, QuickLogic and ZiLOG. Also, FS2 has recently completed designs in cooperation with Accelerated Technology, LSI Logic and CAST.

New debug and testing paradigms for emerging markets
FS2 IP and Tools are designed to meet the testing and debug requirements of emerging SoC, System-on-Programmable Chip (SoPC), FPGA, and Application Standard Specific Products (ASSP) markets where traditional desktop instrumentation cannot meet the requirements due to processor speed, integration, and cost factors.

OCI Technology -- an FS2 exclusive -- is used to integrate the debug block logic directly into a synthesizable core. This provides a robust in-circuit emulator feature set including run control, memory and register visibility, software and hardware breakpoints, complex breakpoints and a sophisticated trace history. It doesn't impact the system's logic, and can operate at real-time processor speed. The technology can also be extended to support multi-core debug, software performance analysis, and network protocol analysis.

FS2 Navigator Suite of OCI Tools --

Silicon IP & Custom Development -- OCI and other related intellectual property (IP) is typically embedded into the synthesizable core logic. It provides the fundamental features that facilitate dealing with complex SoC designs, system software development, pre-silicon hardware simulation, and first-silicon debug and validation.

Custom Debug Tools -- FS2 custom debug tools include the Flash Pro programmer, which provides in-system programmability (ISP) for Actel's flash-based ProASIC FPGA families. FS2 also developed a tool for the QuickLogic QuickMIPS ESP, that combines the ability to debug the MIPS 4Kc core and a Configurable Logic Analysis Monitor (CLAM), which allows the user to monitor and trigger on selected signals within the FPGA programmable fabric.

FS2 BlackBox® Debug Probes -- A high-performance hardware assisted debugger that connects to the target system using a standard JTAG connector.

Software Debuggers and Tool Chains
FS2 IP and tools are designed to be easily ported and are available with a variety of third party source level debuggers and compiler tool chains including Accelerated Technology, Green Hills Software, IAR, Keil Software, Paradigm, TASKING, and ZiLOG.

About FIRST SILICON SOLUTIONS -- <http://www.fS2.com>

FS2 is a privately held company headquartered in Portland, OR, focused on providing IP and custom tools for the testing and debug of SoC designs. The company licenses its intellectual property to a wide variety of leading companies including: Actel, MIPS Technologies, National Semiconductor, Mentor Graphics, QuickLogic, VAutomation, CAST, Parthus Technologies, ZiLOG, Transilica, and others.

FS2, FS2 Navigator, FS2 BlackBox and OCI are registered trademarks of First Silicon Solutions, Inc.

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Contacts:

Rick Leatherman   
First Silicon Solutions
503.292.6730 x102
rickl@fs2.com           

Gary Rains
Rains & Associates
503. 297.1791
gary@rains.cc