OpenSPARC Partner Offerings          Back to OpenSPARC Overview

The companies listed below have solutions, services, and products to directly support the OpenSPARC Community.

FPGA and Prototyping platforms

Xilinx

Xilinx is the worldwide leader in programmable logic solutions. In 1984, Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and was the first semiconductor company to establish the fabless manufacturing model. Xilinx's new, Virtex-5 FPGA board, combined with the OpenSPARC T1 design, enables a flexible platform to create, customize and deploy next-generation applications for a diverse set of markets. For more information, visit http://www.xilinx.com

One of the key results of this partnership has been the port of OpenSPARC T1 SPARC core on Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA technology. This, truly multi-core, multi-thread microprocessor core mapped on FPGAs is available for download to the community members. For more information about the OpenSPARC FPGA port and the hardware evaluation board, visit http://www.digilentinc.com/v5osdk

BEEcube

Leveraging advanced technology developed over 10 years at Berkeley Wireless Research Center in the University of California at Berkeley; BEEcube is at the forefront of technological and market innovation within the supercomputing market. BEEcube offers next generation FPGA based computing platforms, advanced high level programming integrated design environment, and design services for development of complex custom applications. To learn more about BEEcube, please visit the company's website at www.BEEcube.com.

As part of this partnership, OpenSPARC FPGA port can be mapped on BEEcube’s BEE3 hardware platform. Since BEE3 platform hosts four FPGA parts, users can build a system with up-to 4 SPARC cores (16 hardware threads). Please visit http://www.beecube.com/opensparc for ordering information.

Digilent

Digilent Inc. is a leader in the design, manufacture, and world wide distribution of FPGA and microcontroller technologies. Since its founding in 2000, Digilent has grown to the point where our products can now be found in over 1000 universities in more than 70 countries throughout the world. As a multinational company with offices in the US, Taiwan, China and Romania, Digilent is able to provide low-cost, expert quality solutions for a variety of customer needs. Digilent also provides high-end OEM manufacturing services for leading technology companies including Xilinx, Cypress Semiconductor and National Instruments, to name a few. To learn more, visit http://www.digilentinc.com

To order the OpenSPARC Evaluation board, visit http://www.digilentinc.com/v5osdk

EDA, Technology library, and IP suppliers

Synopsys

Synopsys is a world leader in electronic design automation (EDA), supplying the global electronics market with the software, IP and services used in semiconductor design and manufacturing. Synopsys' comprehensive, integrated portfolio of implementation, verification, IP, manufacturing and FPGA solutions helps address the key challenges designers and manufacturers face today, such as power and yield management, system-to-silicon verification and time-to-results. These technology-leading solutions help give Synopsys customers a competitive edge in bringing the best products to market quickly while reducing costs and schedule risk.

OpenSPARC team and Synopsys are partnering to further the University outreach with complementary technology offerings. OpenSPARC designs combined with a wide array of EDA tools from Synopsys will allow community to teach, research, and experiment in many different areas including verification and validation, logic synthesis, and circuit and layout design. OpenSPARC interoperability with the Synopsys 90nm generic technology library is the first step towards this partnership.

Nangate

Nangate is a fast-growing, innovative developer of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software and physical silicon intellectual property for Integrated Circuits. Nangate’s global development teams are creating an exciting new range of products that are benefiting IC designers and manufacturers. The benefits include lower IC power consumption, reduced manufacturing costs, higher chip performance, improved yield and shorter time to market.

As a result of Nangate partnership, community can now synthesize, compose, and optimize state-of-the-art OpenSPARC T1 and OpenSPARC T2 design blocks, using industry standard synthesis tools, on a 45nm technology supplied by Nangate. We believe this combination will facilitate research and experimentation in modern VLSI design topics like timing and noise, reliability, and process variation among other things. We also believe the open-source nature of these two offerings will allow researchers to modify and test new ideas in a consistent and reproducible manner.

Aeroflex Gaisler

Aeroflex Gaisler provides IP cores and supporting development tools for embedded processors based on the SPARC architecture. The key product is the LEON synthesizable processor model together with a full development environment and a library of IP cores (GRLIB). Our personnel have extended design experience, and have been involved in establishing European standards for ASIC and FPGA development. Aeroflex Gaisler has a long experience in the management of ASIC development projects, and in the design of flight quality microelectronic devices. The company specializes in digital hardware design (ASIC/FPGA) for both commercial and aerospace applications.

Aeroflex Gaisler’s IP core library (GRLIB) now supports 64-bit OpenSPARC T1 core and users can download the design from the following web site: http://www.gaisler.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156&Itemid=104

Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: www.mentor.com

Users can access many Mentor 0-in in-line checkers and monitors included as part of the OpenSPARC T2 design to understand the functionality of the design. This would also serve as a reference to write more complex formal verification properties.

SPARC International

SPARC International was created in 1989 as an independent, non-profit organization to oversee and guide the SPARC evolution. Our IP consists of the SPARC Instruction Set Architecture, SPARC trademarks, and, SPARC derivative TM's. The organization is funded entirely by our members in support of SPARC architecture and its Open Standards technology.