Verisity (VRST) - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[panik]

Profile:Verisity Ltd. provides proprietary technologies and software products used to efficiently verify designs of electronic systems and complex integrated circuits that are essential to virtually every high-growth segment of the electronics industry. The Company`s functional verification products automate critical steps in the process of determining whether systems and integrated circuits (ICs) conform to their design specifications. The Company principal products are Specman Elite, Verification Advisor, "e" Verification Components, eRM (e Reuse Methodology), eCelerator, Invisible Specman and SureCov. The Company licenses its functional verification products to the designers of systems, ICs and intellectual property cores for use in products specifically developed for the communications, computers, business automation and consumer electronics markets.


http://www.verisity.com

[panik]

http://www.eedesign.com/story/OEG20031211S0060

Verisity seeks verification lead with Axis buy
By Richard Goering

EE Times
December 11, 2003 (8:20 p.m. EST)


SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — With the stated goal of becoming the number one provider of functional verification solutions, Verisity Ltd. announced its intention to purchase Axis Systems Thursday (Dec. 11). The acquisition will combine Verisity`s "verification process automation" (VPA) solutions with Axis` simulation, acceleration, and emulation technology.

By forging a VPA platform that combines Verisity`s testbench automation, functional coverage, and verification management with Axis` simulation and hardware-assisted verification, Verisity hopes to leapfrog its competitors with a next-generation verification solution. Further, both Verisity and Axis are leaders in electronic system-level (ESL) design, an area that some observers believe will become the primary driver of EDA industry growth.

But the publicly-held Verisity still faces the daunting task of competing against three significantly larger EDA companies — Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Mentor Graphics. The three together dominate the simulation market, and Synopsys and Cadence have recently rolled out their own verification platforms. Further, Verisity`s "e" language faces tough competition from SystemVerilog, an emerging language that includes built-in testbench and assertion capabilities.




In a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2004, Verisity will buy the privately-held Axis for approximately $80 million in cash and stock. Verisity`s annual revenue is currently around $50 million, with the fast-growing Axis over $20 million. The two companies combined employ around 300.

"The technology is a perfect strategic fit that will allow us to address a market that`s estimated by Dataquest to be a billion dollars in a few years," said Moshe Gavrielov, Verisity CEO. "The combination has a full range of technology that can solve our customers` needs."

"Axis had very much the same goal as Verisity — to become the number one company in verification," said Mike Tsai, Axis president and CEO. "We are covering totally different areas with little overlap. To get to the number one position, I think joining forces will be much faster."

"I`d say this is the top acquisition of the year," said Gary Smith, chief EDA analyst at Dataquest. "This puts Verisity in a commanding position in the overall verification picture. It also moves them into position to become one of the major vendors in EDA."

More than just verification, the acquisition is really about ESL, Smith said. He noted that Axis introduced its XoC product, one of the first "true" ESL hardware/software co-verification tools, earlier this year, and that Verisity already holds a strong position in the ESL testbench generation market. "They could really become the market leader in ESL," Smith said.

Competitors, however, have different views. "Verisity is a good company that was in a strategic box, and they needed to add dimension to their story," said Ray Bingham, Cadence president and CEO. The combined company`s job, he said, will be "more difficult" now that Cadence has integrated its own Quickturn emulation tools into the Cadence Incisive verification platform.

"The combination of a proprietary testbench tool with a hardware box still leaves out many elements that are crucial for SoC verification, such as a world-class HDL simulation engine, formal verification, mixed-signal, and a system-level solution," said Farhad Hayat, vice president of marketing for Synopsys` verification group.

Wally Rhines, Mentor Graphics CEO, said that Axis rarely competes against Mentor`s more expensive emulation systems. He said Verisity`s purchase is a "good opportunity," provided the tight capital equipment budgets of the last few years begin to loosen up.

Expanding missions


Both Verisity and Axis began as niche companies with expanding missions. Verisity`s initial focus was its "e" verification language and Specman testbench automation software. Although it became widely used, the company realized it needed to broaden its mission. More recently Verisity developed the VPA concept, and introduced verification intellectual property (IP), a static analysis tool, and a verification "cockpit" from which teams can manage the verification process.

But Verisity`s verification solution was missing several pieces — such as formal verification, debugging, simulation, and until now, hardware-assisted verification. Verisity thus partnered with other providers, and offered products such as eCelerator, which links "e" to accelerators and emulators from Cadence, Mentor, and Axis.

Axis, for its part, pioneered what it called its reconfigurable computing (RCC) technology and fielded products that can handle software simulation, acceleration, emulation, and hardware/software co-verification. In contrast to the big, million-dollar emulation systems aimed at back-end verification teams, Axis focused more on design team verification.

With Axis, Verisity has filled in a missing piece of its portfolio — but as Gavrielov made clear, it`s not just the hardware for which Axis is best known. "The real value is scalable, third-generation simulation technology that is ahead of the legacy architectures that exist today," he said. "We believe this will let us leapfrog those [architectures] and provide a combined solution that can scale across software and hardware."

While Verisity will continue to sell Axis` existing Xcite, Xtreme, and XoC products, Verisity will also develop new products that combine VPA and Axis technology, he said. But Gavrielov declined to offer any specific product plans, noting that the acquisition needs to close first.

Meanwhile, Gavrielov said, Verisity will keep all of its existing partnership agreements with companies that compete with Axis, including links to emulators and accelerators from Cadence, Mentor, and others. "With our own solution, there might be a higher level of integration, but we don`t intend to negatively impact the other options," he said.

Still, there`s the looming threat of SystemVerilog, which uses assertions derived from Synopsys` Vera, which competes with "e."

"We will support SystemVerilog as it becomes a reality," said Gavrielov. "But we don`t believe it will provide a comprehensive verification solution. As we continue to move forward with Specman and e, we intend to prove that to our customers."

Axis` Tsai will become the vice president and general manager of Verisity`s platform division, reporting to Gavrielov. Verisity separately announced Dec. 11 that EDA and ESL veteran Doug Fairbairn, a Verisity board member, has been named chairman of the board.

[panik]

VERISITY GROWS LEAD IN THE FUNCTIONAL VERIFICATION AUTOMATION MARKET TO MORE THAN 2X

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 9, 2004 – Verisity Ltd. (Nasdaq:VRST), the leading supplier of Verification Process Automation (VPA) solutions, once again has been named the revenue leader in the Electronic System Level (ESL) Test and Verification market in 2002, according to the most recent study conducted by Gartner Dataquest. With 55% market share—more than twice that of its nearest competitor—Verisity is the top ranked company in the hottest growth area. Gartner Dataquest forecasts that the ESL test and verification market will reach $270 million by 2007. Today`s news confirms the industry`s need for solutions that combine process automation with performance that scale from the unit, to the chip/system and project levels to solve the complexities of verification of nanometer SoCs.

According to the latest Gartner Dataquest EDA Market Trends report, "EDA 2003: Past the Inflection Point," February 5, 2004, the continued expansion of the ESL market for 2002 was driven by the rapid growth of the ESL test and verification segment, "Verification is driving the move to the ESL methodology. ESL test and verification is a hot area, and we expect to see significant growth."

Market Embraces Verification Process Automation
Functional verification is the number one bottleneck in the nanometer IC development cycle, consuming as much as 70 percent of the entire design cycle. Incomplete verification is the source for 611 percent of all respins, which typically cost millions of dollars and several months of lost engineering manpower at 90-nanometer geometries. Verisity`s VPA solutions combine processes with automation to simplify verification and increase engineers` productivity, design quality and predictability towards closure.

"The numbers speak for themselves, the market has chosen Verisity because our comprehensive VPA solutions virtually remove the largest risks to project success" said Moshe Gavrielov, Chief Executive Officer for Verisity. "Verisity`s VPA solutions scale to meet the needs of block, chip and full system-level verification and provide the tools required to manage all interdependent activities to closure."

About Verisity
Verisity Ltd. (NASDAQ: VRST) is the leading supplier of process automation solutions for the functional verification market. The Company addresses customers` critical business issues with its market-leading software and intellectual property (IP) that effectively and efficiently verify the design of electronic systems and complex integrated circuits for the communications, computing and consumer electronics global markets. Verisity`s VPA solutions enable projects to move from executable verification plans to unit, chip/system and project level `total coverage` and verification closure, while maximizing productivity, product quality and predictability of schedules. The Company`s strong market presence is driven by its proven technology, methodology and solid strategic partnerships and programs. Verisity`s customer list includes leading companies in all strategic technology sectors. Verisity is a global organization with offices throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. Verisity`s principal executive offices are located in Mountain View, California, with its principal research and development offices located in Rosh Ha`ain, Israel. For more information, visit www.verisity.com.

[serena]

Silverback Systems Increases Verification Productivity and Product Quality with Verisity`s Verification Process Automation
Monday March 22, 11:00 am ET
Silverback Systems Uses Verisity`s VPA Throughout The Verification Process, From The Module To The Block And Chip Levels


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2004-- Verisity Ltd. (Nasdaq:VRST - News), the leading provider of Verification Process Automation (VPA) solutions, announced that Silverback Systems successfully verified their iSNAP(TM) 2110 using Verisity`s VPA solutions. With the Specman Elite® technology, e Verification Components (eVCs) and SureCov(TM) code coverage, Silverback Systems was able to dramatically increase their engineers` productivity and ensure a higher quality product.
ADVERTISEMENT


The iSNAP2110, is the newest product in the company`s iSNAP (Storage Network Access Processor) family. It provides iSCSI and TCP/IP offload engine (TOE) acceleration with low total BOM cost and the industry`s smallest footprint. The iSNAP2110 offers two, gigabit-Ethernet ports and leads the industry in performance at 220,000 I/Os per second (IOPS). The iSNAP2110 also has the lowest overall power dissipation compared to competing alternatives and offers enhanced boot, power and remote management capabilities that are essential for blade and motherboard designs.

To verify the iSNAP2110, the company used SureCov for code coverage, and Specman Elite to verify the chip at every step in the process. Silverback verified each individual module, as well as several modules together and finally the full chip with Specman Elite. Silverback Systems also reused portions of their verification environments between modules that shared common protocols. For this, Silverback created their own eVCs, as well as purchased eVCs from Verisity and Verisity`s Verification Alliance(TM) partners. In addition, Silverback reused the verification environments at each level of the verification process, bringing them up from the module, to the multi-module and the full-chip level.

"The iSNAP2110 gives customers greater value for the rapidly growing market for IP-based storage networking," said Ari Cohen, vice president of hardware engineering and operations for Silverback Systems.

"Verisity was instrumental in the on-time delivery and superb quality of this chip. One of the most positive attributes of Verisity`s solution is reusability. Having the ability to create an environment once, and reuse it throughout our verification process increased our efficiency as well as quality of the final product," added Cohen.

"The promise of VPA is that it automates and simplifies verification at all levels," said Steve Glaser, vice president of corporate marketing and business development for Verisity. "With the iSNAP2110, Silverback has delivered a new breed of processor accelerating IP storage. Verisity is committed to our partnership with the company and in providing them with market-leading solutions for their toughest verification challenges."

About Verisity

Verisity Ltd., (Nasdaq:VRST - News) is the leading supplier of process automation solutions for the functional verification market. The company addresses customers` critical business issues with its market-leading software and intellectual property (IP) that effectively and efficiently verify the design of electronic systems and complex integrated circuits for the communications, computing, and consumer electronics global markets. Verisity`s VPA solutions enable projects to move from executable verification plans to module, unit, and chip/system level `total coverage` and verification closure, while maximizing productivity, product quality, and predictability of schedules.

The company`s strong market presence is driven by its proven technology, methodology and solid strategic partnerships and programs. Verisity`s customer list includes leading companies in all strategic technology sectors. Verisity is a global organization with offices throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. Verisity`s principal executive offices are located in Mountain View, California, with its principal research and development offices located in Rosh Ha`ain, Israel. For more information, visit www.verisity.com.

About Silverback Systems

Silverback Systems, Inc. designs, develops and markets iSNAP(TM), storage network access processor product family, accelerating the adoption of IP storage networking. The company was founded in July 2000 and is based in Campbell, Calif., with a design center in Rochester, MN. Current investors are China Development Industrial Bank (CDIB), Excelsior Venture Partners III LLC, a private equity fund managed by U.S. Trust, Gemini Israel Fund, JP Morgan Partners, Newbury Ventures and Pitango Venture Capital. Additional information is available at www.silverbacksystems.com.

Verisity, the Verisity logo, Specman Elite and SureCov are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Verisity Design, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.
iSNAP is a trademark of Silverback Systems.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
Verisity Design, Inc.
Jennifer Bilsey, 650-934-6823
[e-mail]
or
Gelphman Associates (for Silverback Systems)
Rob Gelphman, 408-451-8420
[e-mail]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Verisity Design, Inc.

[serena]

Verisity Extends Acceleration Architecture with Behavioral-Level Processors
Monday March 22, 11:00 am ET
Testbench Acceleration Heralded as One of the First Key Applications


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2004--Verisity Ltd. (Nasdaq:VRST - News), the leading supplier of Verification Process Automation (VPA) solutions, has extended its patented `SEmulation` architecture with the promise to dramatically improve the flow from event-based simulation to very high-performance design, testbench and assertion acceleration. Verisity, which recently acquired the technology as part of its acquisition of Axis Systems, is extending the product architecture by embedding customizable behavioral-level processors. Behavioral processors are a natural extension of SEmulation technology, and enable the movement of critical simulation and verification elements into high-performance hardware. The technology advances associated with behavioral acceleration will yield approximately a 10X boost in acceleration performance with a fraction of the effort required to move from event-based simulation to directly coupled event-based acceleration. It will also enable improved debugging and ease-of-use for the entire design team.
ADVERTISEMENT


The SEmulation event-based architecture, the technology foundation of Verisity`s XoC(TM), Xtreme® and Xcite® verification products, now employ thousands of dynamically programmable behavioral processors that execute in parallel to achieve dramatically faster simulation and verification processing. This extended technology provides engineers with freedom of choice, supporting SystemC, Verilog, VHDL, SystemVerilog, the emerging IEEE e P1647 verification language, popular assertion languages, and standard interfaces.

Testbench acceleration is the first application in this technology with the first-ever capability to accelerate testbench and instrumented verification. Initial field tests are underway with eCelerator(TM) in joint key customers.

"This is a breakthrough for the performance of SoC verification as it goes beyond conventional RTL emulation and acceleration, enabling hardware verification of the full system," said Ping Tseng, vice president of HDL Technology for Verisity. "We originally built our acceleration and emulation technology on an event-based simulation technology. We are now extending it natively to support all requirements to support block, chip, system and project-level verification process automation (VPA)."

Embedded Stimulus Generators Drive Performance

Engineers using Verisity`s next-generation acceleration solutions will see much higher performance when the stimulus for testbenches and behavioral models are embedded into the hardware. Typically, stimulus generation is serial process running on a workstation. The behavioral acceleration in the SEmulation architecture enables engineers to directly embed stimulus generators into multiple behavioral processors. They can then run stimulus generation in parallel for their testbenches or behavioral models, thereby improving the overall performance.

Debugging Improves Through Embedded Instrumentation

Additional productivity gains are achieved through the unique debugging visibility and superior reporting capabilities. After embedding instrumentation directly into the behavioral processors, such as assertions or monitors, engineers can trigger and extract meaningful critical information during runtime to pinpoint specific areas of interest. In contrast, the creation of just-in-time data requires significant manual data management from traditional hardware-assisted verification. Verisity provides the fastest method for engineers to get the data they need quickly.

About Verisity

Verisity Ltd. (Nasdaq:VRST - News) is the leading supplier of process automation solutions for the functional verification market. The Company addresses customers` critical business issues with its market-leading software and intellectual property (IP) that effectively and efficiently verify the design of electronic systems and complex integrated circuits for the communications, computing and consumer electronics global markets. Verisity`s VPA solutions enable projects to move from executable verification plans to unit, chip/system and project level `total coverage` and verification closure, while maximizing productivity, product quality and predictability of schedules. The Company`s strong market presence is driven by its proven technology, methodology and solid strategic partnerships and programs.

Verisity`s customer list includes leading companies in all strategic technology sectors. Verisity is a global organization with offices throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. Verisity`s principal executive offices are located in Mountain View, Calif., with its principal research and development offices located in Rosh Ha`ain, Israel. For more information, visit www.verisity.com.

Verisity, the Verisity logo and eCelerator are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Verisity Design, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Xcite, XoC and Xtreme are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Axis Systems, a Verisity company, in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
Verisity Design, Inc.
Jennifer Bilsey, 650-934-6823
[e-mail]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Verisity Design, Inc.