IEEE
BEGINS SYSTEMC™ STANDARD WORK TO AID SYSTEM-LEVEL DESIGN
Reflects
Industry Understanding That Languages and Methodologies Supporting
Higher Levels of Abstraction Are Critical for True System Design
Contact:
Victor Berman, Chair of the IEEE SystemC Working Group
+1.978.262.6560, vberman@cadence.com
Karen McCabe,
IEEE Senior Marketing Manager
+1.732.562.3824, k.mccabe@ieee.org
Francine
Bacchini, PR Counsel for the Open SystemC Initiative
+1.408.839.8153, francine@thinkbold.com
Piscataway,
New Jersey; San Jose, Calif., USA 18 November 2004 The Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) and the Open
SystemC Initiative (OSCI) announced today that the IEEE has started
work on a new standard, IEEE P1666™, "SystemC Language
Reference Manual." SystemC provides hardware-oriented constructs
within the contexT of C++ as a class library implemented in standard
C++. Its use spans design and verification from concept to implementation
in hardware and software. The new standard, which is sponsored
by the IEEE Standard Association Corporate Program and the Design
Automation Committee of the IEEE Computer Society, is targeted
for completion in 12 to 15 months.
"Today's
electronic systems have a dramatic increase in software content,"
said Mike Meredith, OSCI Executive Director and Language Working
Group Chairman. "This challenges system designers and architects
to manage projects with increased hardware complexity and major
software development in parallel. SystemC goes well beyond traditional
hardware description languages by providing an excellent way to
code and control these projects as they progress from concept
and design to verification and implementation."
"The
Open SystemC Initiative is very pleased to see our targeted goal
of IEEE standardization begin its path to realization," said
Mark Milligan, President of OSCI. "Our community of users
have been reaping the benefits of SystemC for several years, and
the EDA tool and IP developers have been providing innovative
implementations of simulators, models, and system-level design
tools that conform to the SystemC standard. The ever-expanding
adoption of SystemC--and the increasing size and health of the
SystemC ecosystem--makes this move to standardization a natural
step in the process of ESL evolution and a tremendous value-add
for the industry."
IEEE P1666
will be based on the SystemC specification developed by The Open
SystemC Initiative. "The transition of SystemC from OSCI
to formal IEEE standardization reflects the industry's understanding
that languages and methodologies supporting the high level of
abstraction are critical for true system design," said Victor
Berman, IEEE SystemC Study Group Chair. "This position affirms
the requirements voiced by our user base for design and verification
tools that address today's complex, software-rich systems."
SystemC is
a stable and interoperable platform for developing and exchanging
system-level C++ models and for creating system-level tools. It
adds a system-design, verification and hardware-design class library
to ANSI Standard C++ and provides hardware-oriented constructs.
Its core language includes an event-driven simulator, modules
and ports for representing structure and interfaces, and channels
that describe communication. Its library offers data types for
use in modeling hardware and programming software.
Standards
are developed within the IEEE-SA Corporate Program in company-based
working groups in which each member has one vote. This industry-oriented
program allows for standards creation in one to two years, depending
on participant commitment and the use of IEEE support services.
The program also provides a route to international acceptance
for a standard based on the IEEE's broad ties to the international
standards community.
About
SystemC and OSCI
The Open SystemC™
Initiative (OSCI) is an independent, not-for-profit association
composed of a broad range of organizations dedicated to supporting
and advancing SystemC as an open industry standard for system-level
modeling, design and verification. The SystemC language and its
proof-of-concept open source implementation can be downloaded
at www.systemc.org.
About
the IEEE Standards Association
The IEEE
Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting
body, develops consensus standards through an open process that
brings diverse parts of an industry together. These standards
set specifications and procedures based on current scientific
consensus. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of more than 870 completed
standards and more than 400 standards in development. . For information
on IEEE-SA see: http://standards.ieee.org/.
For information
about its Corporate Standards Program, call +1732-562-5342 or
email corp-stds@ieee.org.
About
the IEEE
The IEEE has
more than 360,000 members in approximately 175 countries. Through
its members, the organization is a leading authority on areas
ranging from aerospace, computers and telecommunications to biomedicine,
electric power and consumer electronics. The IEEE produces nearly
30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics
engineering, computing and control technology fields. This nonprofit
organization also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 technical
conferences each year. Additional information about the IEEE can
be found at http://www.ieee.org.
All
trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this news release
are the intellectual property of their respective owners.
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