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Kawasaki Microelectronics and CoreSim Join Forces to Launch ASIC Second-Source Service
Unique Solution to Reduce OEMs’ ASIC Costs by 20 to 40 Percent
SAN JOSE, Calif. and KANATA, Ontario – August 11, 2003 – Kawasaki Microelectronics, a leader in advanced yet affordable ASICs, and CoreSim, Inc., a leader in design analysis and validation services, today announced a technical and business alliance to launch an ASIC second-source service that will reduce OEMs’ costs by 20 to 40 percent.
"Cost reduction is of paramount importance to system OEMs today – both their customers and their management demand it," said Hideki Yoneda, executive vice president of Kawasaki. "Prices tend to drop any time a second source enters the market. By their inherent nature, ASICs have not easily lent themselves to second sources, but now that’s changed. By partnering, Kawasaki and CoreSim minimize the burden placed on customer engineering and system validation teams, thereby greatly simplifying the path to second sourcing."
The partnership is both a business and a technical alliance. Through its design analysis and validation services, CoreSim will ensure that Kawasaki’s second-source ASIC is a drop-in replacement for an OEM’s original ASIC. CoreSim’s technology ensures 100% backwards compatibility with system software and hardware. Further, CoreSim’s comprehensive methods of analysis enable recovery of "lost designs"; that is, the recovery of ASIC or FPGA design files with missing, incomplete or untrustworthy data. Kawasaki and CoreSim have agreed to work together with clearly defined technical responsibilities and detailed specifications for the information passed between them at defined handoff points. Additionally, the companies will align their roadmaps to ensure that future Kawasaki ASIC products will be supported by CoreSim and that future CoreSim capabilities will be supported by Kawasaki. The partnership will also address FPGA conversions, especially conversions of high-end FPGAs. The combined solutions will be co-marketed.
"The big question facing systems OEMs today is ‘how do I reduce costs to stay competitive without unduly burdening my engineering teams?’" said Ken Bradley, CEO of CoreSim. "Working together, Kawasaki and CoreSim will provide a unique, low-burden solution to this tough challenge facing our customers."
"I am very impressed with CoreSim’s and Kawasaki’s unique approach," said Jerry Worchel, Senior Analyst at In-Stat/MDR. "With the current slow-growth forecasts of the ASIC market, going after a piece of the market that has not been pursued yet, not only makes a lot of sense and shows great promise, but it also meets a need that many end-users have been seeking for some time – a way to second source high-complexity products."
About CoreSim
CoreSim, headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, is a world leader in digital
design analysis, virtual prototyping and real time system vector capture.
CoreSim couples "design for agility" supply chain concepts
with novel simulation techniques to enable companies to maximize product
lifecycle profitability. This is achieved through aggressive cost reduction,
obsolescent component replacement and improved product quality, whilst
still maintaining 100% backwards compatibility with both system hardware
and software. CoreSim’s technical expertise enables even "lost" digital
designs to be recovered without imposing a significant burden on the
customer organization. More information about CoreSim can be found
on the Web at http://www.coresim.com
About Kawasaki Microelectronics
Kawasaki Microelectronics is the leader in advanced yet affordable
ASIC semiconductor technology solutions. The company’s innovative
core technologies and world-class design support are used in the
consumer electronics, computer, office-automation, networking, wireless,
and electronic-storage markets. Deployed worldwide, Kawasaki’s
products enable customers to quickly introduce highly-competitive
solutions. The company is an active participant in industry standards
organizations, including the Network Processing Forum (NPF), OpticalInternetworking
Forum (OIF), and the USB Implementers Forum. Kawasaki has design
centers in San Jose, Calif.; Boston, Mass.; Japan and Taiwan. For
more information, contact the company at 408-570-0555, or visit its
web site at http://www.klsi.com.
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