Imagination and Mentor Graphics Collaborate to Speed Verification of MIPS-Based Designs With Veloce and Codelink

LONDON and WILSONVILLE, Ore., Feb. 24, 2016 -- Imagination Technologies (IMG.L) and Mentor Graphics Corp. (Nasdaq:MENT) are collaborating on emulation to help mutual customers speed time to market. The Mentor® Veloce® emulation platform, specifically the Codelink™ offering, now supports debug of designs built with Imagination’s full range of entry-level to highest performance MIPS CPUs including the latest deeply embedded M-class M6250 processor based on the MIPS R6 architecture. Mentor is using MIPS CPUs in its training programs and Codelink demonstrations around the globe.

The Codelink tool enables a fast, performance-driven software debug experience on a design with the Veloce platform. It presents the important information needed to quickly debug the most challenging hardware/software integration problems. With Codelink, software developers can optimize for performance and power consumption of the complete system – including hardware and software – before committing to silicon. During emulation, Codelink records and stores all of the software execution details from the MIPS processors for later ‘playback,’ with features such as fast forward, rewind, pause, single step, and the equivalent of zoom and pan. Codelink gives the software developer a familiar software debug experience, but with much greater debug capabilities.

Says Eric Selosse, vice president and general manager of the Mentor Emulation Division.: “As the complexity of SoC designs continues to grow, emulation is becoming a “must have” capability to fully debug highly integrated SOCs. With Codelink, we are moving the debug task offline, marking an important methodology shift for software verification – and increasing the value of the Veloce platform for automotive applications such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). With its advanced MIPS CPUs and other IP solutions for multimedia, connectivity and more, Imagination is a key partner for Mentor. We are collaborating in a number of areas to help mutual customers get products to market in much shorter time with less risk.”

Says Jim Nicholas, vice president, MIPS business operations, Imagination: “As we enter 2016, we are accelerating our MIPS IP core roadmap and product delivery, and continuing to expand the already robust ecosystem of tools and software for MIPS. This collaboration with Mentor is a great example of how we are making it easier than ever to use MIPS. A number of key MIPS customers are using Mentor’s Veloce emulation for hardware emulation. These customers can now leverage Codelink to complete designs months sooner compared to traditional methods by moving critical software tasks to the pre-silicon stage. We believe that the results of our emulation collaboration will bring significant benefit to our customers.”

Demonstration at Embedded World
Attendees can see the power of Codelink on the latest generation MIPS M6250 CPU at the Embedded World Conference and Exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany, February 23-25, 2016. Visit the Mentor Graphics booth #4-422. For more information, contact [email protected].

About MIPS CPUs
MIPS CPUs comprise a comprehensive portfolio of low-power, high-performance microprocessor IP cores and architectures, ranging from solutions for high-end applications processing down to solutions for extremely small, deeply embedded microcontrollers. MIPS CPUs power billions of products around the globe. The 64-bit MIPS architecture is widely deployed in a large number of products, and is supported by a vibrant and growing ecosystem, built over more than 20 years.

About the Veloce Platform
The Veloce emulation platform is a core technology in the Mentor® Enterprise Verification Platform™ (EVP) – a platform that boosts productivity in ASIC and SoC functional verification by combining advanced verification technologies in a comprehensive platform. The Veloce emulation platform’s success is a result of several factors: high design capacity, speed of execution, and exceptional functionality. Now considered among the most versatile and powerful of verification tools, emulation is used by project teams for hardware debugging, hardware/software co-verification or integration, system-level prototyping, low-power verification and power estimation and performance.

About Imagination Technologies
Imagination is a global technology leader whose products touch the lives of billions of people across the globe. The company’s broad range of silicon IP (intellectual property) includes the key processing blocks needed to create the SoCs (Systems on Chips) that power all mobile, consumer and embedded electronics. Its unique software IP, infrastructure technologies and system solutions enable its customers to get to market quickly with complete and highly differentiated SoC platforms. Imagination’s licensees include many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEMs/ODMs who are creating some of the world’s most iconic products. See: www.imgtec.com.

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Imagination, MIPS, and the Imagination Technologies logo are trademarks of Imagination Technologies Limited and/or its affiliated group companies in the United Kingdom and/or other countries. Mentor Graphics, Mentor and Veloce are registered trademarks, and Enterprise Verification Platform is a trademark, of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other logos, products, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Imagination Technologies’ Press Contacts: 

UK: David Harold [email protected] +44 (0)1923 260 511
USA: Jen Bernier-Santarini [email protected] +1 408-530-5178