Establishing true interoperability for EDA tools for nanometer IC design recently took another sizable step forward. The Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) has begun to beta test source code for Version 2 of the OpenAccess application programming interface (API) and reference database. Spearheaded by Si2's OpenAccess Coalition, the effort seeks wide adoption of the open-source software with an eye toward easier integration of EDA tools from multiple vendors.
Participating in the beta-test program are Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, LSI Logic, Cadence Design Systems, and Numerical Technologies Inc. Beta tests began early in September and continued through November. All beta test results will be consolidated. The community version of the software should debut in January 2003.
According to Koorosh Nazifi, director of product marketing for OpenAccess at Cadence Design Systems, beta testing has proceeded smoothly. "Feedback has been extremely positive with respect to ease of implementation of the internal applications on top of the database, as well as the quality of the code," he says. Among the features of Version 2 are automatic name-space mapping and the intrinsic ability to handle 32- and 64-bit conversions in various processor architectures.
In related news, the OpenAccess Coalition has welcomed Sagantec as a new member. Sagantec, a vendor of full-custom physical design software, methodologies, and services, was prompted by customers to seek Coalition membership.
For more information, visit the Silicon Integration Initiative Web site at www.si2.org or www.openeda.org.
