NewsCAST Unveils "Total Modeling Solution" for VHDL Design

New Models, Services, and Training Aimed at System and FPGA Designers; New Web Site Provides Communication Link

32nd Design Automation Conference, San Francisco, California, June 12, 1995 Electronic design automation (EDA) provider CAST, Inc. today announced an update and an addition to its standard model library series, an expansion of its custom modeling services, a new training course for the VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL), and a new site on the World Wide Web.

The new models and services provide cost-effective benefits for engineers verifying new system or FPGA designs with VHDL simulation or retargeting existing printed circuit boards to FPGAs with VHDL synthesis. The new WWW site links CAST more directly with the design community, enabling rapid exchanges of designer modeling requirements and CAST modeling solutions.

"Whether they need off-the-shelf standard parts models, custom modeling of processors and complex devices, or training to develop their internal modeling capability, designers can now turn to CAST and our Total Modeling Solution," said CAST president Chin-Yeh Chi. "Our new Web pages make this process fast and painless, so designers can get on with their work."

New Models, Services, and Training

The update to CAST's Standard Component VHDL Library (SCVL) for simulation expands its coverage from 3,000 to 5,500 parts, including standard TTL-type components and a variety of memory devices, all with a range of user-configurable timing options. The new library, SCVL-S, offers synthesizeable VHDL models of all the same parts (except the memory devices, which are usually implemented without synthesis). The source-code models are fine-tuned to match the VHDL styles required for several popular synthesis tools.

SCVL 2.0 and SCVL-S 1.0 are both shipping now for popular PC and Unix platforms. Prices for SCVL are $995 on PCs and $2,995 on Unix. The price for SCVL-S (synthesizeable source code) is $4,995 on either platform.

SCVL and SCVL-S purchasers are eligible for an innovative "models-on-request" maintenance program. MOR Maintenance offers free technical support, guarantees at least two library updates every year, and enables customers to ask for and receive updates and additions to their standard component model libraries. Variations of existing models are typically delivered within two weeks of the request; models for new components usually appear in the next scheduled release of the library.

CAST's V-Custom Services program represents an expansion and formalization of the modeling services CAST previously performed. It offers designers a quick, cost-effective alternative to doing their own modeling of processors, peripheral devices, and other complex components. In addition to the VHDL experts at CAST, the company has access to teams of qualified modeling engineers around the world, enabling fast turn around for even very challenging modeling projects.

CAST's new line of VHDL training programs now features the entry-level, two-day course An Introduction to VHDL and Synthesis with the Viewlogic PROseries. Courses for additional tools and skill levels will be added over the next year.

A New Home on the Web

Responding to the usual time pressures faced by its customers, CAST has established a Web site that enables rapid communication between the company and the design community. The site provides up-to-date listings of the standard library series models, descriptions of CAST's services and training, and forms to help designers specify the details of their modeling requirements. A designer may thus visit the site, quickly determine if the models he or she needs are already available, and then either contact a local distributor to order them or place an on-line request for a MOR Maintenance model update or a V-Custom Services quote. The site is at http://www.pdlcomm.com/cast.

CAST is exhibiting its new offerings at DAC Booth 2529.

The company is located at 24 White Birch Drive, Pomona, NY 10970. Phone is 914-354-4945, fax is 914-354-0325, e-mail is castinc@delphi.com.

# # #

SCVL is a trademark of CAST, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their owners.