“The VersIC/Helix Core combination allows us to manage our IP reuse and tape-outs. In addition, it allows a high level of collaboration with our groups internationally for a number of designs at Bosch. We are very happy with its performance, level of functionality, and ease of use. VersIC/Helix Core will continue to be a very important part of our tool suite at Bosch.”
— Clemenz Portmann, Principal Engineer at Bosch

“VersIC gives us the high performance configuration management tools we need to facilitate PDK development, project design data management, and IP variant sharing across design teams. We now have the high performance backbone we need to enable true collaboration in our hardware design environment.”
— Dustin DeVries, CAD Director at Cirrus Logic

“The VersIC DM tool is simple to set up and [Perforce] is providing great support. Our designers immediately accepted the VersIC platform due to its ease of use. Additionally, since VersIC can be set up on top of a Subversion repository, we can benefit from the space efficient tagging and branching of SVN and leverage the broad open source community behind it.”
— Felix Lustenberger, VP Engineering at EPC

Key Features in VersIC

VersIC offers the following key features for analog design teams.

Design Data Management

VersIC has flexible architecture that allows you to use your data management (DM) tool of choice, including Perforce Helix Core.

VersIC builds on leading industry-proven data management solutions like Helix Core. It expands data management to address the unique challenges of working with advanced analog design.

VersIC automatically:

  • Manages the complex file relationships found in semiconductor design.
  • Provides tools to manage the large binary files common in EDA tools.
  • Plugs into Helix IPLM (formerly Methodics IPLM) for multisite data management and disaster recovery.

You’ll be able to take advantage of existing infrastructure, access all data freely, and benefit from continual technology improvement driven by widespread usage outside semiconductor design.

VersIC also supports other data management solutions, like Subversion.

VersIC and HelixCore

Single Repository Type For All Data

It’s critical to have a single source of truth for all data. VersIC integrates with Helix Core (or other data management solutions) to give you a single unified DM repository for all of your design data.

Cadence libraries, Verilog, Ocean scripts, software, documentation, and other design data can be versioned, configured, and released on a central DM repository with a single point of release.

With VersIC, you won’t need to require the use of separate repositories for analog design data and the rest of your data. This helps you avoid the complexity of releases, potential for errors, and infrastructure costs. With VersIC and Helix Core, a single repository can be used for all your data management needs.

Single Repository Type For All Data

Real-Time Multisite Workspace Creation

VersIC is powered by the Helix IPLM workspace management engine.

By using VersIC, you’ll reduce disk space requirements and facilitate real-time workspace setup and delete. You can even use it for workspaces requiring data from remote repositories. This is enabled using self-maintaining replication caches with high performance parallelized syncs. Plus, you won’t have to make changes to the underlying infrastructure.

Design configurations are stored centrally and enforce common working data across design centers. Updates can be configured on a “push” or “pull” basis to ensure that all designers on a project stay in sync with the latest design configuration.

Workspace permissions are enforced across repositories controlling read/write/update access control from a single central interface. Workspaces can also be populated with data from a centralized IP catalog.

Scalable Distribution Infrastructure

Seamless Integration With Analog Design Tools

Analog design is complicated enough without requiring designers to learn new design management concepts, methodologies, and tools. This is why VersIC’s design management capabilities are made available directly within existing design environments.

Within your familiar Cadence or Synopsys environment, designers can:

  • Perform data management (DM) operations such as check-in/check-out code.
  • Perform releases.
  • Perform intelligent Diff and Merge for schematics and layouts.
  • Seamlessly integrate into the Perforce Helix IPLM environment.

You get better design management, without impacting designer productivity.

Analog and Digital IP Design Management

Power of DM for Analog Design

A major productivity benefit for software (DM) data management is availability and usage of “diff” and “merge” — and the design methodologies they enable.

VersIC is unique in offering “diff” and “merge” in the analog context allowing designers to operate on schematics and layouts cellviews. Cellviews can be compared hierarchically and changes sorted into functional or ECO categories:

  • Instances and PCells are examined according to location, orientation, and properties.
  • Shapes are examined according to location, coordinates, layers and can be displayed on a per-layer basis.
  • Schematics are examined according to their connectivity and property values.

Designers can easily identify what has changed. They can even generate reports during a commit, notifying changes to interested parties, enabling clearer communication during critical periods in the project lifecycle.

Your designers won’t have to manually identify relevant changes and take appropriate action.

Power of DM For Analog Design

Fully Integrated Defect Tracking Tools

VersIC integrates with industry standard defect tracking tools. This enables analog design status to be monitored together the other design activities.

Defects are created directly within the analog design tools, associated with relevant design views, and updated as part of schematic/layout commits and releases.

Reports can be generated from within the analog design tools showing any existing tickets based in the relevant design context.

Parent-Child Aware Defect Tracking

Task-Specific Dashboards

Data is key to making informed project decisions. VersIC is powered by Helix IPLM for at-a-glance visibility of data through configurable dashboards, backed by a powerful data analytics platform.

Default dashboard configurations are provided for common analog design tasks such as IP release status.

Image Methodics Customizable Task Specfic Dashboards

Get Started With VersIC

Find out how VersIC can help you improve collaboration and deliver a single source of truth in analog design data. Talk to an IP expert today to get started with VersIC.