CoWare is the leading supplier of platform-driven electronic system-level (ESL) design software and services. CoWare offers a comprehensive set of ESL tools that enable electronics companies to “differentiate by design” through the creation of system IP, including embedded processors, on-chip buses, and DSP algorithms; the architecture of optimized SoC platforms; hardware/software co-design; and virtual platforms for device software development. The company’s solutions are based on open industry standards including SystemC.

CoWare and Tensilica have collaborated to deliver a comprehensive ESL design environment with CoWare’s Platform Architect for Tensilica’s processors. CoWare will distribute a SystemC-based Processor Support Package (PSP) with the flexibility to match all configurations of Tensilica’s Xtensa configurable processor family as well as Tensilica’s Diamond Standard family of processor cores.

Design engineers can now use CoWare’s Platform Architect ESL environment to do full architectural exploration, design verification, and software development when designing with Tensilica’s Diamond Standard processors and Tensilica’s highly-configurable Xtensa processors. This collaboration provides a huge productivity boost for SoC designers, as it not only speeds the design process, but also enables parallel development of the hardware and software.

Multiple customized Tensilica Xtensa configurable processors are being used increasingly by designers in place of blocks of RTL to provide the flexibility of software programmability in new designs. Tensilica’s advanced configurable processor technology enables designers to mimic RTL-like hardware inside the processor data path, which provides the performance throughput needed for complex, demanding tasks such as audio and video processing and packet processing. Now, matching Xtensa processor models can be quickly generated and used in CoWare’s ESL environment. The combination of Xtensa processor configurability and its software development tool chain, with the platform design environment and additional IP models within the CoWare tools, provides customers with a unique flow for creating the best architecture for any given application.

See press release from November 20, 2007

For a complete list of EDA tools and the EDA tool flow supported by Tensilica, click here.