Arteris Enhances Network-on-Chip Offerings to Address Full Range Of SoC Designs

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091108005046/en

Network on Chip(NoC) Pioneer Expands IP Offering to Enable Bus Interconnect on
Small-Scale SoCs, Enhances Methodology for Implementing NoCs on Complex Chips
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Arteris Inc., the leading Network-on-Chip (NoC) interconnect IP solutions
provider, today announced the availability of two new on-chip interconnect
products, the FlexNoCTM and FlexWayTM packages. With these offerings, Arteris
expands the capabilities of its market-leading NoC Solution to address the
complete range of SoC design styles, sizes and complexities. The new technology
builds on Arteris` proven technology for designing and implementing NoCs, and
delivers an expanded, scalable capability to combine traditional bus-based
interconnect approaches with its NoC technology. The solution also offers an
enhanced tool set, called the FlexArtistTM tool suite, which further automates
the process of designing on-chip interconnect at each stage of the SoC design
flow.

The new product line addresses a broad array of interconnect issues facing IC
designers today, including the design of ICs with lower power, higher
performance and lower silicon area. The current Arteris NoC Solution, which
introduced a new approach to managing on-chip communication for designers
challenged by the proliferation of IP cores used on a single chip and by
increasingly stringent power, area and performance requirements, has been used
extensively in complex designs by some of the world`s leading fabless and IDM
chip companies. Arteris has built on that foundation to deliver a broader, more
full-featured solution.

One of the key innovations of the new offering is the ability to use its
solution for both NoC and bus-type interconnect. This enables semiconductor
makers to use FlexNoC and FlexWay IP for a broad range of complexity and
performance requirements, as well as at various stages in the design process. .

Two Packages to Address IC Complexity

The new Arteris product line adds two interconnect products:

* FlexNoCTM for implementing NoCs in medium to high-end SoC designs;
* FlexWayTM for addressing the needs of less complex SoC designs

The new Arteris IP products are supported by an enhanced design environment, the
unified FlexArtistTM design tool set. The FlexArtist framework guides the design
process starting from functional specification capture, through architectural
refinement and ending with an automatic synthesis of a structural view used to
drive the RTL to layout design flows. The FlexArtist system enables users to
output RTL and SystemC models to provide an interconnect model for every stage
of the SoC design flow. The FlexArtist tool includes automatic interconnect
verification and test bench generation features.

"The Arteris FlexNoC and FlexWay offerings build on our industry-leading
experience in developing on-chip interconnect solutions with our customers and
partners for the past seven years. These new products expand the capabilities of
NoC technology to implement an interconnect strategy that maps closely to the
complexity of the ICs being designed. The interconnect solution scales with
designers` needs and is managed from a unified tool set that provides enhanced
automation and ease of use throughout the SoC design flow," said K. Charles
Janac, President and CEO of Arteris. "With interconnect wires being a more and
more significant percentage of IC die size, interconnect IP innovation is one of
the key areas that can address the cost, complexity and performance challenges
faced by IC designers."

New Features for NoC and Bus Interconnect

Arteris enhanced NoC technology contains the following key new features and
benefits:

Low latency architecture: The Arteris FlexNoC product allows users the choice, per connection, to use a standard packet format or a zero latency packet format to carry
protocol information. Such a choice allows the architect to do the best trade-off between resource utilization and latency for simple designs and latency sensitive blocks
or IP. The use of the zero latency packet format allows users to eliminate any penalty involved in the packetization process.

Addressing the needs of simple SoC`s: The Arteris FlexWay product can be used as a bus replacement for simple SoC designs. It can also be used to address peripheral
interconnect applications on more complex designs. This product is geared toward conservation of wires and silicon area while using the same FlexArtist design tool set as
other Arteris IP products.

Scalability and a unified tool environment. Between the FlexNoC and FlexWay IP offerings, a semiconductor company can use Arteris technology for all of its SoC, FPGA and
other projects. The new product line can be used from the most complex, large scale SoCs to relatively simple SoCs and FPGA designs. Structural Interconnect Synthesis.
The FlexArtist tool set implements a new design flow and the capability to automatically synthesize a structural representation of an interconnect from an architectural
description. The user still has the capabilities to manually control the synthesis process for fine performance tuning, and the FlexArtist tool offers unprecedented level
of automation and productivity. Specification, architectural, structural and verification views are combined in a homogeneous framework. It supports AXITM, AHBTM, APBTM
and OCP 2.2 IP communication protocols, enabling high levels of IP reuse.

Pricing and Availability

The FlexNoCTM and FlexWayTM products are available immediately. Pricing varies
with project complexity and product features.

About Arteris

Arteris, Inc. provides semiconductor interconnect IP and tools to manage the
on-chip communication of ICs for multimedia, mobile, telecom, mil-aero and other
applications. Benefits of using Arteris` Network-On-Chip products include lower
power, higher performance, lower risk of development and faster delivery of ICs,
SoCs and FPGAs of any complexity or size.

Founded by networking experts, Arteris operates globally with headquarters in
San Jose, California and an engineering center in Paris, France. Arteris is a
private company backed by a group of international investors including Crescendo
Ventures, DoCoMo Capital, Synopsys, TVM Capital, and Ventech, .More information
can be found at http://www.arteris.com.

Arteris, FlexNoC, FlexWay,FlexArtist and the Arteris logo are trademarks of
Arteris. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.

Arteris, Inc.
K. Charles Janac, +1 408-625-6001
Charlie.janac@arteris.com
or
Wired Island, Ltd.
Mike Sottak, +1 408-876-4418
mike@wiredislandpr.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009