Work group forms to link two EDA interfaces

Work group forms to link two EDA interfaces
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A standard application programming interface for IC design data will come closer to reality this week, when the OpenAccess Coalition and Synopsys Inc. form a working group to link the OpenAccess and Synopsys Milkyway APIs. If successful, the effort will produce a single API that will provide far greater interoperability than EDA users have known.

The OpenAccess Golden Gate Working Group will bring EDA user companies together with Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems Inc. representatives to build a bridge between OpenAccess and Milkyway. It's Synopsys' first joint announcement with the user-driven OpenAccess Coalition, which is promoting an API and data model based on Cadence's database technology.

Synopsys is not joining the OpenAccess Coalition, however, and will continue to work on Milkyway rather than adopting the OpenAccess database. "We feel the right level for interaction between platforms is at the API level," said Rich Goldman, vice president of strategic-market development at Synopsys. Synopsys announced last week that it is opening access to the Milkyway API and creating Galaxy, an IC design platform based on it.

'Full-flow interoperability'

It's not clear whether the drive to create a single API will succeed."We are all coming together with the shared goal of full-flow interoperability," said Steve Schulz, president and CEO of Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2), which manages OpenAccess. "We don't know exactly how it will be accomplished, but the commitment . . . is significant."

"Ideally we will have a single API," said Synopsys' Goldman, "but without doing some information modeling and looking at the two different databases, it's hard to say whether we will actually achieve that goal."

Because the OpenAccess Co-alition began its work with Cadence's Genesis database while Synopsys has invested hugely in the Avanti Milkyway database, it looked like the two might be on a collision course, leaving EDA users to struggle with two incompatible databases.

Now those fears have subsided, but no one knows how far the new working group will progress. "We're being very practical about it," said Sumit DasGupta, vice president of technology at Si2. "Step one is to create an API-to-API-type bridge such that designs from one side can access tools and data from the other side. The long-range goal is to move to a single API." No timetables have been set thus far. "The goal is to have a bridge by the end of this year. Whether that can be done remains to be seen," DasGupta said.

"This is a great move by Synopsys," said Michael Sanie, group director of strategic partnerships and initiatives at Cadence, calling it a "vote of confidence that OpenAccess is becoming an industry standard."

The Golden Gate working group includes representatives from Si2, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, LSI Logic, Motorola, Philips Semiconductors and STMicroelectronics, in addition to Synopsys and Cadence. Don Cottrell, Si2's vice president of emerging technologies, said the initial goal is to create an "emulation layer" that will put the OpenAccess interface on top of Milkyway, and put the Milkyway interface on top of OpenAccess. The group will have to decide on using C or C++. OpenAccess has a C++ API and Milkyway a C API — "a fundamental language difference," Cottrell noted.

Si2 is sponsoring an OpenAccess Conference tomorrow in Santa Clara, Calif. The event includes a luncheon panel on business and technical issues, along with speakers from a number of member companies. Information is at www.si2.org.