Si2 to facilitate standardization of common power format

Cadence Design Systems Inc. and the Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2), a consortium of semiconductor, systems, EDA and manufacturing companies, have agreed on Si2 facilitating standardization of the Common Power Format (CPF) through the IEEE. Si2 joins the IEEE-SA as a corporate member.

Upon approval of the CPF Working Group (WG) by the IEEE, Si2 has agreed to be available, at the request of the WG, to serve as secretary of the IEEE CPF WG to enable closer synchronization with Si2's recently announced Low-Power Coalition (LPC).

As part of the agreement, CPF will be made available to LPC members for their review. The format has been developed with significant input from a broad cross-section of industry leaders in the Power Forward Initiative. LPC members will receive access to CPF end of October.

"CPF has excellent potential to serve a foundation role in low-power design flows," said Steve Schulz, president and CEO of Si2. "We have listened to industry on the importance of open and unified standards-based flows, so we are pleased to contribute by aligning the CPF standardization efforts through inclusion of LPC members by taking an active role in approved IEEE standardization processes."

"Cadence has had many positive experiences with Si2 in building user coalitions and driving market adoption," said Jan Willis, senior VP, industry alliances at Cadence. "We are delighted to support Si2 through the Low-Power Coalition to facilitate industry-wide market development of the Common Power Format."

CPF is a new design language that addresses limitations in design automation tool flow by capturing the designer's intent for power management and enabling automation of advanced power-lowering design techniques. The CPF enables all design, verification, implementation and technology-related power objectives to be captured in a single file and allows application of that data across the design flow, providing a consistent reference for design development and production.