MIPS agrees to verify free models of its cores from Imperas

Imperas models of MIPS processor cores will be verified by MIPS Technologies under the MIPS-Verified program, and will be available for free at the www.OVPworld.org website. These verified MIPS models can be used to build virtual platforms that run up to 500-million instructions per second and can be used for efficient development of higher quality embedded software.

In a statement issued by Imperas Jack Browne, vice president of marketing, Processor Business Group, MIPS Technologies, said: "Imperas will take the electronics industry forward with its visionary approach to virtual platforms and the easy accessibility of OVP. Verifying the compatibility and functionality of these high performance MIPS-based processor models and making them freely available with OVP enables our customers to develop high-quality software faster and more easily using virtual platform models of their SoCs and embedded systems."

The MIPS core models and many other models used in developing virtual platforms are available now and downloadable free of charge at the OVP website: www.OVPworld.org. Other components available from OVP include application programming interfaces (APIs) for building a platform verification infrastructure and developing behavioral and processor models. Model libraries of processors, behavioral components and peripherals are offered, along with platform templates, bare-metal platforms, and OVPsim, a reference simulator shipped as an executable.

"MIPS Technologies recognizes the importance of freely available models to seed the market for rapid growth and accelerate the design and programming of embedded systems on chip," said Simon Davidmann, Imperas' president and chief executive officer, in the same statement. "Compatibility and quality of models is essential when using virtual platforms to develop software and by having MIPS-verified processor models available for free from OVP means developers can get higher quality software developed faster. Verified models really help close the software gap."