Sonac, a Japanese venture of Nitta Group’s Electronics Division, has found a way to reduce LSI design verification time from 17 hours to 30 minutes with Sun Solaris 10 and Sun Grid Solution on x86. This is no small gain, since 70 percent of development time is typically spent on simulating and verifying logic.

Frustrated with this seeming reality of LSI verification testing, Sonac built a new test bench on the SystemVerilog LSI design and verification language and the Verification Methodology Manual (VMM). The bench uses the Synopsys logic simulator called VCS. To run this test bench, Sonac chose the Sun Java Workstation W2100z equipped with Sun Solaris 10 Operating System for X86. The Synopsys VCS logic simulator runs on three Sun Fire V40z servers with Solaris 10 Operating System for x86 with Sun Grid Engine software to form the grid. A gigabit Ethernet switch connects the workstation and servers.

Processing power in the Sonac testing procedure is capable of being scaled linearly because the Sun Grid Engine software automatically divides random test cases generated on the test bench across a total of twelve independently operating CPUs (4 in each Sun Fire server) to execute the set of instructions for each test case. The result is the dramatic reduction in testing time reported above.

Sonac explained its choice of Solaris 10 as the operating system for its grid implementation because the company needed a professionally supported operating system and wanted risk reduction, which it found in the reliability and stability of Solaris, as well as the extensive knowledge, support and experience that Sun brings.

Based on this success, Sonac has forged an alliance with Sun to offer a packaged version of this test solution to semiconductor and electronics manufacturing customers, and in doing so is helping to revolutionize the process of LSI design.

For further information on the elements of Sonac's successful test bench operation see Sun Fire V40z Server, Sun Grid Engine Software, and Solaris 10 Operating System. [...read more...]

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