20 Years Ago – 10 Years Ago – Tomorrow (DAC)
It is always good to pause to recognize the companies and individuals with whom we collaborate to create the verification flows and solutions that allow the simplest and most complex devices and systems to come to life. It is this time of year when the fruit of collaboration has generally been shared publicly. This is probably the case, in no small part, to the nearing of the annual trek to the Design Automation Conference (DAC). As we get closer to that week in June this year, I will discuss it even more. But now I would like to offer a look back at two major milestones around this time of the year that shaped our future.
20 Years Ago
On April 3, 1995, we announced “Device Vendors Providing Library Support to Mentor.” Our ModelSim simulator gained support from 12 ASIC and programmable logic vendors. Until then, Mentor’s gate-level simulation was provided by QuickSim and its large collection of ASIC vendor libraries and flows. With the emergence of VITAL (VHDL Initiative Towards ASIC Libraries) and as an IEEE standards project for it (1976.4) emerged, we continued our activities to drive knowledge about VITAL and educate and help the rest of the ASIC vendor community so they could bring to market their own simulation libraries for ModelSim.
As we added Verilog to the language mix, those Verilog libraries were likewise qualified and offered to the mutual customers we shared with our valued ASIC Vendor partners. ModelSim grew to be a very popular product and the value of collaboration taught us the importance of shared collaboration.
10 Years Ago
In mid May 2005, we launched our Questa Vanguard Partnership (QVP) program modeled on the ModelSim program. SystemVerilog 3.1a had been released by Accellera and was in the final stages of IEEE certification which was to come in November 2005. But to get a jump on solidifying business relationships with our partners and to encourage support of SystemVerilog we began to work with companies around the world who expressed an interest to build a vibrant ecosystem. A lot was accomplished in the six months between the launch of the QVP program to the approval of the first IEEE SystemVerliog 1800-2005 standard.
But it was good to pause then too and celebrate the standard with our new Questa partners, our mainstay semiconductor library partners and competitors in Japan. Upon IEEE approval of the standard, Accellera in conjunction with the Big-3 EDA companies and CQ Publishing (Japan), held a “Happy Birthday” celebration reception. I have to offer special thanks to my friends at Synopsys for the idea. And, yes, we all know that this November will be lucky 10 years for SystemVerilog and we have already started to discuss what can be done at the annual fall standards meetings in Japan to celebrate this milestone.
Tomorrow (DAC)
As I mentioned, the great thing about this time of the year is the planning for DAC. Many good things have happened in the last year. Last year, at Mentor Graphics’ urging and our public commitment to donate technology, Accellera started a “Proposed Working Group” on Portable Stimulus to determine the viability of a standards project. Accellera formally approved the formation of the Portable Stimulus Working Group in December 2014. At the Verification Academy booth at DAC, we will certainly offer updates on this work and affirm our sustained commitment to the development of this standard. I will share full details about what, when and where for the Verification Academy booth at DAC later.
But wait! There will probably be more. I can assure you, I will post a few more times during this final two-month journey to DAC. And as the daily program for the Verification Academy booth is finalized, I will share its content my thoughts on this. And as industry events, like the Accellera DAC Breakfast are finalized, I will make this part of my commentary on DAC 2015 as well. It seems this DAC will be a busy DAC.
But this is something you can do now! If you don’t know if you want to attend the technical program yet, you should at a minimum secure a free pass to the exhibit floor and access to some open industry events. If you register by May 19th, you can choose the “I Love DAC” registration – complements of ATopTech, Atrenta, and Calypto. After May 19th, it is no longer free. So why not register now? I look forward to seeing you at DAC.
