Interview with Agnisys
Tool name: IDesignSpec™
Vendor: Agnisys Inc.
Webpage: http://agnisys.com/products/ids
Interviewee: Anupam Bakshi, CEO
Gary Stringham: I’m talking with Anupam Bakshi of Agnisys. What is the name of your product?
Anupam Bakshi: IDesignSpec.
GS: Tell me two or three key features of IDesignSpec.
AB: IDesignSpec takes register data right from your specifications, and converts it into a format you desire. Instead of creating static specification documents, we make dynamic, executable specification documents possible. From Word or Excel or Open Office or Frame Maker, you can convert specification information directly into code. That’s number one.
Second, we have probably the largest number of possible inputs and outputs.
The other is its flexibility in generating outputs. We provide Tcl and XML interfaces that you can use to create whatever output you want. The key is the way we generate the outputs and that’s our sweet sauce. Users can specify properties (either built in or user defined) and act on them using the available API. Imagine, creating a Word specification, adding your own properties, and generating output of your choice using simple Tcl.
IDesignSpec is not just one monolithic application where you need to input your data in a GUI or learn a new language and generate outputs. But it is a family of tools designed to get the data from you in the most intuitive fashion without any duplication of data entry.
GS: Describe to me what a typical customer is like.
AB: We actually have two different types of customers. One customer would be someone who has been using internally-developed scripts. They just want to be done with that and get something more robust and automated. They come to us because our solution is simple, easy to adopt and it easily replaces existing processes. It is offered as a plug-in into most editors. In addition, batch mode operation is also available.
GS: Now, you’re entering the specifications into a Word document? So you’re saying there’s an add-in to the Word document that is doing the on-the-fly checking?
AB: Exactly. That’s one way, and the other way is to import System RDL, IP-XACT, etc.. This can be done in batch or interactive mode. Don’t get me wrong—it’s not just an interactive Word-based tool. In batch mode, the user can convert System RDL, IP-XACT, XML, Word, Excel, or ODT into any output they want, including UVM, OVM, C headers, etc.
GS: So, you said there are two different types of customers.
AB: Right, so that was one who’s got the internal script. The other type is large customers. They want to fix the entire process but they typically have various design and verification teams. Such customers often find it difficult to completely change all the register related processes for all the teams. These kinds of customers require more; they typically get our PRO version of the tool which gives them the ability to specify registers in any format using any flavor they want (Word, Excel, OpenOffice, FrameMaker, batch) yet get the same outputs from it. This is very important to them.
GS: Tell me about two or three success stories of your customers.
AB: One customer wanted to create synthesizable RTL. And they also, interestingly, wanted microcode generated for a microprocessor. We helped them write the output generator for the microcode. He was very happy since now his Word specification, his RTL, and microcode, are always in sync.
Another customer wanted System RDL files converted into Word in batch mode. And they wanted their own template for registers in Word. We have the ability to take users’ templates and generate documents based on the register formats they already have. The customer is also happy because the outputs from IDesignSpec look no different from how they would create them by hand, except of course now they have automated the process.
And another customer is one of the big three simulation companies! One of their divisions wanted custom header and UVM files generated. They wanted a Word version of the tool. They got UVM, OVM, and header file generation capability. Once again they are a happy customer of ours.
Note that in all these cases the delivery model, platform and licensing scheme was different. One user had a bunch of node locked licenses for Linux and PC, another one had a Site license so that no one has to wait for a license, and the third user got a single seat for the batch mode running on a PC.
GS: For your input type, you’ve got the Word document, but you can also import—like you said—from IP-XACT, RDL…
AB: Yes we can import IP-XACT, SystemRDL, XML, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets in both batch and interactive modes.
GS: And you can probably even create customized input generators or convertors of sorts.
AB: Input, like XML, is very open. We can do it as a service, but people can write their own, convert it into XML and that XML can be read in. On the output side, like I said earlier, we give you a Tcl API that you can use to create any output.
GS: Do you have a way of saying, here’s a group of registers that you can then bundle or group together so that you can then put copies of that group around? Can you do that?
AB: Yes, we have a concept for doing that. We have converted a linear Word document into a hierarchical Word document. We have that concept, which, by the way, is all patent pending technology. You can convert it into a hierarchal register description. You describe it once and you can iterate on it many times. There’s no limit to the depths. You can go ‘n’ levels deep. And it will generate that ‘n’ level deep hierarchy into synthesizable VHDL, Verilog, and SystemVerilog. This is a very powerful feature.
Oh, the other thing I forgot to mention is that it calculates your addresses on the fly. When you put the spec in Word, you don’t have to specify the addresses. You only specify the offsets. It gives you the addresses. Also, when you do a “check” on the document, it will automatically calculate a table of contents all based on where registers are, what their relative positions are.
GS: Do you have size constraints, as far as total number of registers?
AB: There is no size constraint—not in our licensing, nor in our tool. There is no size constraint in terms of volume of data or depth of hierarchy, etc.
GS: That’s all the questions I have for now. Thank you very much for your time.
AB: My pleasure.
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