IP providers, SoC told to go for compromises

GRENOBLE, FRANCE: A panel session held at the IP-ESC 2009 Conference, held in Grenoble, France, recently discussed the subject of IP design and reuse from a business-and-technology angle and exhorted providers of IP and SoC to “reach compromises.”

According to the participants in the panel session at the IP-ESC 2009 Conference, the global economic depression has made SoC designers aware of the fact that, by outsourcing critical IP, they could not only cut design time but also improve time-to-market. But, this requires collaboration between the IP vendor and the customer, especially in the case of IP reuse.

Jack Browne, senior vice-president (sales and marketing) of Sonics, said at the panel session of the IP-ESC 2009 Conference that he sees a “clear disconnection” between the providers of IP and SoC.

He called for efforts from both sides to effect a change for the better, mainly through a “mentality” on the part of the industry to shift to system integration. In order to achieve this, Jack Browne advocated a design using a top-down approach, aimed at decoupling all components – including vertical design teams – and focusing on differentiation even while outsourcing the rest.

Stefano Ravaglia, director of SoC R&D of the Computer System Division of STMicroelectronics, said the IP market offers a wide range of promising opportunities and that SoC makers are going to rely more and more on the IP market because “IP makes the difference.”