Monday, December 29, 2008

C-to-Verilog.com provides C to HDL as a service

If you follow this blog, then you've read my ramblings on EDA SaaS. An interesting new advance in this area is http://www.c-to-verilog.com. This website let's you compile C code into synthesizable Verilog modules.

Here is a screencast of the service:




I've also discovered a few other websites related to EDA, SaaS and "Cloud Computing." Harry the asic guy's blog covers the burgeoning EDA SaaS market and Xuropa is creating an online community for EDA users and developers. Here's a two part EETimes piece which talks about EDA SaaS.

I already use a remote desktop connection to run most of my EDA jobs remotely. I've argued that there is a "generation gap" between SaaS and traditional software license markets. The people who used to code in university basements when they were 13 in the 60's and 70's invented the software licensing industry. Now, the people who used to herd botnets when they were 13 are graduating with computer science degrees. The nu-hacker distributes code updates to all his users immediately without forcing anyone to wait through an install.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

could you please reffer to the following point:

unlike other services the clients for verilog tools are mostly industry people and not home users, if so - which company would want it's source uploaded to a 3rd party?

Amir said...

I guess it matters how much you think your secrets are worth. Private remote connections are possible for many tools, but you have to have trust in the provider. This is why God invented lawyers.

Anonymous said...

Was it God that invented lawyers or ... oh, never mind :-)

I think the RTL code issue, when its the customers own RTL, is a businesss decision. If you really think that a competitor is going to develop a product by stealing your RTL and then support it, forget it. I can't even support the RTL written by the guy in the office next door.

One legitimate issue is IP rights when the design includes 3rd party IP. I can't give you my design if it includes 3rd party IP without consent from the IP provider and an NDA. If I have severeal IP providers, this can be a real nightmare.

Nadav Rotem said...

C-to-Verilog.com provides a commercial version of the product for companies, so they won't have to submit their designs over the Internet.