In the wake of the VSI Alliance's (VSIA's) announcement that it will cease operation, IEEE has formed two study groups to examine VSIA's Quality IP (QIP) Metric standard and encryption activities. The Quality IP Study Group and Encryption Study Group will evaluate VSIA technology with an eye toward potential new standards.
The VSIA QIP Metric standard gives companies a way to evaluate intellectual property (IP) from internal groups or third parties for the components used to construct ASICs, systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), or other ICs. VSIA's encryption work, which began earlier this year, is based on a document contributed by Synplicity and aims to provide a standard to safeguard semiconductor IP cores, thus protecting their developers' investments.
The study groups will make their recommendations on whether or not to proceed with formal standards development in the next 90 days. Before doing so, they will explore each possible standard from such perspectives as market potential, compatibility with related standards, differences from other projects, and whether a viable pool of volunteer leadership and participants exists.
Companies participating in the Quality IP Study Group include Freescale, LSI, EDAcentrum, Mentor Graphics, and Cadence. It is chaired by Kathy Werner, IP strategy and business manager of Freescale Semiconductor.
Participants in the Encryption Study Group include Synplicity, Altera, LSI, Synopsys, Mentor, and CAST. The group is chaired by Gary Delp, distinguished engineer, LSI. Both groups are sponsored by the IEEE Design Automation Standards Committee (DASC).
The IEEE and the DASC invite all interested parties to participate in these study groups. For further information on the Quality IP Study Group, contact Kathy Werner at [email protected]. For more on the Encryption Study Group, contact Gary Delp at [email protected].
IEEE
standards.ieee.org
VSI Alliance
www.vsia.org