Mentor Graphics and Stonestreet One Announce Integrated Bluetooth Software Stack for Nucleus RTOS Targeting Low Power, Connected Embedded Development

 

 

WILSONVILLE, Ore., April 18, 2012—Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced the integration of its flagship Nucleus® Real Time Operating System (RTOS) with the Bluetopia protocol stack from Stonestreet One, a leading provider of Bluetooth software. The third generation of the Nucleus RTOS provides built-in power management capabilities and connectivity features ideally suited for power sensitive, wireless communication applications. The Bluetopia stack is a robust and flexible software tool that, when combined with the Nucleus RTOS, enables developers to create a variety of wireless communication applications with ease and reliability.

The strategic partnership between Stonestreet One and Mentor gives developers an integrated and configured solution for Bluetooth connectivity in the memory-constrained microcontroller environments. The Bluetopia solution is configured specifically for the Nucleus RTOS on the Texas Instruments Stellaris development platform. This technology supports the full set of Bluetooth profiles from Stonestreet One, such as Bluetooth stereo audio playback and serial port profile (SPP). The Bluetopia and Nucleus RTOS, with integrated power management services, is an ideal solution for Bluetooth-enabled, high performance, low power connected devices such as industrial monitors, portable medical and consumer products.

“Our Bluetopia solution is portable across multiple operating systems and processors, and
has shipped in millions of devices,” stated Tim Reilly, founder and president of Stonestreet One. “Integrating Bluetopia with Mentor’s market-leading Nucleus RTOS will enable developers to create innovative products for low power and connectivity with ease and reliability.”

Used in more than 2.3 billion mobile handsets, the Mentor® Embedded Nucleus product is a proven, highly efficient, and reliable operating system. The Nucleus RTOS delivers high performance while optimizing resource usage in a single-OS or multi-OS platform. Built with a framework for high efficiency and power management, the Nucleus RTOS is ideal for memory resource-constrained devices and for systems where maximizing cycles-per-watt to conserve power is critical.

“Stonestreet One, a leading provider of Bluetooth stacks, supports leading silicon partners such as TI and Freescale, which is a key reason why we chose them as a strategic partner,” stated Glenn Perry, general manager of the Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division. “The seamless integration of Bluetopia with Nucleus will help our customers deliver innovative products that require less power and provide robust connectivity—key for today’s consumer devices.”

The Nucleus ReadyStart platform allows developers to begin developing their value-add applications within minutes of installation by providing an integrated development environment (IDE) that consists of the Nucleus RTOS, optimized drivers/BSP, compiler, and debugger tools. The Nucleus software features separate workflows for BSP, system, and application developers which accelerate porting applications to new hardware. The Nucleus ReadyStart product includes the Mentor Embedded Sourcery™ CodeBench technology, GNU-based integrated development environment (IDE), and the Mentor Embedded Inflexion® UI tool for dynamic 2D/3D user interface creation.

For further information on the new Nucleus-based technologies integrated with the Bluetopia stack, visit the company website at www.mentor.com/nucleus.

Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division comprises the Mentor Embedded family of products and services, including embedded software intellectual property (IP), tools, and professional consultant services to help embedded developers and silicon partners optimize their products for design and cost efficiency. The Mentor Embedded team continues to lead the industry with involvement in the open source community, with Inflexion 2D and 3D UI development, Sourcery open source tools, and Nucleus RTOS solutions. More information on Mentor Embedded products and services can be found at www.mentor.com/embedded.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronic, semiconductor and systems companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues in the last fiscal year of about $1,015 million. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

India's VLSI industry focused on 1-10 million-gate designs

Kariyatil Krishnadas

           

BENGALURU, India — VLSI design services provided by companies in India brought in $760 million last year, rising to $927 million in 2008, according to a study released last week by the India Semiconductor Association.

The ISA report said the U.S. market accounted for nearly 70 percent of the 2007 revenue. Europe is the next biggest buyer of design services from Indian firms, and Japan is seen as a market with huge potential. The unique challenges Japan presents in terms of language and managing relationships set it apart, but Indian design houses are starting to get more projects from Japanese companies, the ISA said.

India logged a total of 1,826 VLSI design projects last year, of which 1,027 were done in the captive centers of overseas companies and the rest by domestic design service providers. The ISA said it expects the total number to rise to 2,283 by the end of 2008.

Indian design houses are beginning to do more of the complete design, from specification to tapeout—at least within companies here that have experience in designing complex chips at the 65-nanometer process node.

Nearly 11 percent of last year's total fell into the complete-design category, with the rest being chip-testing assignments, said Poornima Shenoy, president of the ISA.

And though the cost of both infrastructure and salaries is rising, there is still about a 30 to 40 percent differential when doing designs in India vs. the United States or Europe, the ISA said.

Digital designs still primary

Digital designs made up the vast majority of the 2007 total, at 72 percent, followed by analog at 16 percent and mixed-signal designs at 12 percent, the report said. "Companies in India are largely involved in digital design, but the industry is expected to shift toward mixed-signal technology in a few years," said ISA chairman S. Janakiraman. "In India, there is a demand for trained talent to work on analog and mixed-signal designs, and if this shortage of talent is addressed, India can emerge as a major powerhouse in mixed-signal design."

In terms of gate count, 61 percent of all the 2007 designs were between 1 million and 10 million gates. Another 21 percent came in at less than 1 million gates and 12 percent were in the 10 million- to 20 million-gate range. At the upper end, 3 percent were in the range of 20 million to 30 million gates and 2 percent at 30 million to 50 million gates. Just 1 percent of designs surpassed 50 million gates.

"In India, 83 percent of the chips were designed in 90-nm and 130-nm [processes]," Janakiraman said. "Some companies have designed chips at 45-nm process technology and some are in the process of creating libraries."

Cost factor in upgrades For any technology upgrade, cost is a major factor. "The 90-nm/65-nm process technology is successfully meeting the geometries and the cost target," he said. "Some captive companies will migrate directly to 45 nm, but these will be very few in number."
According to the ISA report, 52 percent of digital designs last year were at 90 nm and 31 percent at 130 nm. Another 7 percent were in 65-nm technology, 2 percent in 45 nm and 6 percent in the older process technology of 180 nm. Two percent of designs were done at 250 nm.
Analog and mixed-signal design is largely done at the 130- or 180-nm nodes in India, Janakiraman added.
Specifically, the report put 46 percent of 2007's analog designs at 180 nm, 34 percent at 130 nm, 18 percent at 90 nm and 2 percent at 65 nm. In mixed-signal, 48 percent were in the 180-nm process node, 32 percent in 130 nm, 17 percent in 90 nm and 3 percent in 65 nm.

Shortage of PhDs
In all, the Indian industry employed 13,996 engineers in 2007, the ISA said, 27 percent of whom held master's degrees. Engineers with doctorates number just 1.5 percent of the total engineering work force.
The shortage of PhDs has been a cause of concern here, especially when it comes to innovation, and some industry players are seeking to lure Indians with doctoral degrees back from the United States, where most of them now work.
Among the top design services companies here, the ISA report listed HCL Technologies, KPIT, Mindtree, Sasken Communication, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro Technologies. Intel, Texas Instruments, IBM and Motorola are among the largest global companies with captive centers in this country.
Indian companies that provide VLSI design services are often paid at an hourly rate for the number of engineers they put on an assignment. The alternative preferred by Indian firms is to be paid on a project basis or by the month.
Pay rates, which depend on the seniority of the engineers, are usually put at $3,520 to $6,160 for each engineering man-month. Last year, the average man-month rate was $4,562. The biggest projects, however, are sometimes decided on a firm, fixed-price contracts.
Of the 1,826 overall designs in 2007, the largest single category (42 percent) was module design and verification, while 25 percent were in physical design and 16 percent were in intellectual-property development.
The largest industry segment that did VLSI designs out of India was consumer electronics, with 33 percent, followed closely by telecom and networking products. The portable- and wireless-products segment accounted for 14 percent, computing for 9 percent and automobiles for 4 percent. The medical and defense segments accounted for the rest.
While the long-term prospects for the country's high-tech design services providers are bright, the report cited a number of challenges. Foremost among these is the lack of engineers who can be immediately deployed on a design; many Indian EEs need additional training and skill development, ISA said.
Moreover, Indian companies may be good at product design, but they need to do more in complete-system design and development, the report said. The lack of adequate testing-and-validation facilities within the country is also a dampener, ISA added, lengthening cycle time and prolonging revenue realization.

VLSI industry is pegged at $1.25 bn: CMR

India VLSI design services industry accounts for over 14 per cent of total India semiconductor market at US$ 1.25 billion in 2011

Monday, March 26, 2012

BANGALORE, INDIA: India VLSI design services industry is pegged at US$ 1.25 billion or 14  per cent of the overall India Semiconductor industry in 2011, with captive design centres accounting for close to 70 per cent of total revenues.

In terms of number of companies, the India VLSI design services industry comprises approximately 70 firms designing chips for various customers within the large volume segments of Consumer Electronics, Networking and Telecoms, besides niche areas like Healthcare.

These findings were revealed in the CyberMedia Research India VLSI Design Services Study 2012 (March 2012).

"Chip designing in general and VLSI in particular is not a new phenomenon for the India semiconductor industry," said Anirban Banerjee, associate vice president, research and advisory services, CyberMedia Research.

"Indian design engineers, whether serving in captive or third party design companies, have exhibited depth of experience and a range of skills by taping out some of the world's best chips that are used in several devices and gadgets we use in our daily lives," Anirban added.

The India third-party VLSI design services industry revenues were estimated at US$ 375 million in 2011.

Wipro Technologies led the industry with over 22 per cent share while SmartPlay Technologies and Sasken Communications comprised the other companies that made it to the top 3 in terms of revenues earned. Collectively the top 3 companies constituted 30.1 per cent of total India third party VLSI design services revenues for 2011.

On the technology front, Indian companies have designed chips on a 28 nm scale that have already been successfully taped out. In 2012, it is expected that 22 nm scale chips designed in India will also be taped out to hit markets across the world.

Further, it is expected that Indian companies will graduate to 3D chip designing in the forthcoming quarters. By 2013, CyberMedia Research expects the overall number of VLSI Design Services companies in India to surpass 100.

IIT Kharagpur awarded the Outstanding Contribution to VLSI/ Embedded Design Industry

SiliconIndia, a leading portal in the IT News and Media category and Mentor Graphics, a leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, announced the '2010 Leadership Awards for the Embedded/VLSI Industry'. These awards recognize the contribution of various companies/individuals in driving the Semiconductor industry. The best in the embedded software industry were honored.

IIT Kharagpur was awarded for its Outstanding Contribution to VLSI/ Embedded Design Industry. The SiliconIndia Mentor Graphics Leadership Awards for the Embedded/VLSI Industry is the first annual awards and one of its kind for the VLSI/Embedded industry.

Speaking about the awards, Walden C. Rhines, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mentor Graphics said, "This award will inspire future leaders to tread a path of success and triumph. It will celebrate the success stories and honor companies/ individuals who have transformed stumbling blocks into stepping stones driven by their passion, determination and undying spirit of entrepreneurship. The award will salute the business leaders of tomorrow within the Embedded/ VLSI industry."

The winners of these prestigious awards were chosen by a panel of jury consisting of eminent leaders; Guru Ganeshan, Managing Director, ARM-India Operations; Vivek Sharma, Vice-President Asia Pacific & India Operation, Director India Research Centers, STMicroelectronics; Srini Rajam, Chairman and CEO, Ittiam Systems; Dr. Satyanarayan Gupta, CEO, Concept2Silicon Systems; Pravin Desale, Vice President, Milpitas CA (Storage Components Division), LSI; Santhanakrishnan Raman, Managing Director, LSI India R&D and Rajiv Kapur, Managing Director, Broadcom India.