For many years the EDA language architects have worked toward a system architecture language that could allow the "correct by construction" approach to system level design. The Unified Modeling Language (UML), was created by the Object Management Group and adopted as a supported technology by that group in 1997. it6 is used mostly to model software intensive systems, but has been shown to be useful in modeling hardware/software systems as well.

Although there have been alternative developments that more specifically target hardware systems, like Rosetta, they have not succeeded in gathering enough interest from potential users, and the Rosetta project remains unfinished. Mentor Graphics has always been a major participant in modeling languages engineering, playing key roles in VHDL and SystemVerilog for example. The company has developed its own version of UML, called xUML that incorporates extensions to the languages that Mentor deems appropriate to aid in the use of the language for hardware/software architectures.

Mentor Graphics Corporation has been focused on embedded systems development for some time. It has announced a new program composed of the Mentor® Embedded professional services and products specifically for hardware companies. The Mentor Embedded Hardware Enablement Program provides a spectrum of comprehensive services and training for embedded Android, Linux®, open source tools (GNU, GCC, Eclipse), user interface (UI) creation, and vertical markets, including in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), smart energy and retail applications.

Synopsys has released a new prototyping environment that combines technology from Virtio, Coware, and Vast. When the Virtio acquisition was announced in May of 2006, few if any would have stated that the acquisition was the first step in the implementation of a long range plan. Five years plans, and possibly longer, that are actually implemented are extremely rare in EDA. And yet, last year the company acquired CoWare, another company with technology closely related to virtual prototyping, and Vast Systems, a company with IP that is used by many automotive company around the world.

All is left is to wait and see how the Virage Logic acquisition will fit in the virtual prototyping market: I have ideas, but they are not for free.

Over the years, the semiconductor industry has been using C/C++ high-level synthesis (HLS) tools as one way to address the complexity of implementation and verification of hardware acceleration cores due to the growing complexity of standards in video, imaging, wireless, and other multimedia and communications applications. However, these challenges have limited the adoption and scalability of these tools. This paper will discuss some of these challenges and introduce Synphony C Compiler (SCC), a new high-level synthesis product from Synopsys that includes some unique and effective technologies that address the challenges in high-level synthesis adoption.