IP Central
Semiconductor IP Management
Optimizes IP management & reuse across distributed teams
The IP Central semiconductor IP management system pulls together all a company’s IP — internal and third party — into a searchable and accessible IP catalog for every single design team to use. Engineers can search for the best IP for their design using a Google-like user interface and powerful IP catalog filters, then view an automatically generated datasheet.
IP Central supports all commercial design management systems, Git compatible systems, and IC Manage GDP-XL design & IP management system. It scales to 100M+ IP objects – delivering highly responsive access across for global teams. IP Central also offers a time machine feature for full traceability of every database operation and recovery of any previous IP state.
Empowering IP owners, IP consumers, & managers
By automating the time-consuming process of publishing and managing a company’s IP, IC Manage IP Central allows design and verification teams to fully reap the benefits of IP reuse in a timely and resource efficient manner. IP can be published with IP Central from different design data management systems, independent of where it was developed.
IP Owners
IP creators across diverse organizations can easily publish IP via a checklist-guided flow with IP properties encapsulated. IP Central’s clear, streamlined publishing process minimizes any publishing overhead to achieve maximum productivity.
Producers can identify which versions of their IP are being used by which designers in which chips and be notified if any IP bugs are found.
IP Consumers
IP Consumers can search for all available IP across the company according to designated categories, specific strings, or a combination of desired IP parameters. They can then view all IP property details in the IP datasheets, understand the status, and track bugs.
They will have access to IP they might not otherwise be aware of — giving them confidence they are using the best IP possible for their product.
Management
Managers can determine which IP will be in the IP catalog, set permissions for IP usage in a secure manner, and track exactly where the various IP and versions are being used, as well as verification status.
The IP catalog metadata schema can be directly modified, as well as configurable data models — unlike typical PLM systems that require custom database programming.
Complete semiconductor IP catalog with Google-like search & filters
Engineers can find the optimal semiconductor IP for their designs using a general-purpose web UI-based search across the entire IP catalog. The Google-like search enables keyword searching to find appropriate matches.
Designers can also do a component catalog-like search where engineers can filter by IP classification, such as analog, digital, etc., and for specific properties such as technology node. For an example, see NXP’s IP Central case study.
Once the engineer finds an ideal IP, they can immediately view a detailed datasheet.
Product Resources
Robust IP Publishing & IP Catalog
IP Central semiconductor IP management system’s scalable architecture has a customizable schema, robust features, and interfaces with external systems.
Intuitive web-based user interface — The web-based UI supports IP publication, searches, datasheets, and management reports. IP owners can quickly navigate the system to take their IP from newly loaded to published and ready for reuse.
Managers can track IP as it moves toward being published, and even curate which IP is included in the company’s IP catalog. Design and verification teams can search across 100s of metadata fields; most search results and IP datasheets load in under a second.
Links to external systems — HTML links to documentation systems or verification trackers can be embedded so the engineers have a single IP window that pulls in all relevant information in one place.
Live data access to PLM & identity management systems — It’s important that IP catalog search results are always up to date, reflecting changing information in other systems. To achieve this, IP Central provides workflow automation and API integrations for updating metadata fields from external PLM and tapeout systems frequently throughout the day.
IP management delivers IP reuse at scale
Works across all commercial & open-source design management systems
Scales to 100M+ IP components
Bug tracking integration enables bug history tracing for every IP across all versions & designs
Time Machine feature for full traceability of every database operation & recovery of previous IP states
IP management enables IP lifecycle management optimization
One of IP Central’s benefits is that it enables IP lifecycle management optimization.
Authorized engineers can use IP Central to define the refinement and analysis stages that must be completed as an IP moves through IP lifecycle management — from creation through publication. They can define requirements to enter each stage and which users or user groups are allowed to update each stage. IP Central automatically notifies IP owners or specified user groups when each new IP stage is entered.
1. Prior to publication, IP owners go through this defined checklist guided flow, capturing the IP and its properties (metadata), such as bugs, assertions, constraints, and electrical and simulation parameters. Each IP’s state can be updated, validated, and marked as completed or verified, based on rules, metrics, or EDA tool run results.
2. Once the IP is ready, the owner publishes it, enabling IP catalog search visibility and including any licensing information and restrictions.
3. Designers then search and select the published IP across internal & third-party IP, using fully configurable specifications. Custom datasheets are dynamically rendered, including linking to external IP systems, such as documentation management and bug tracking.
4. Semiconductor IP owners and management have clear traceability of each IP across the full design hierarchy. Management can generate analytic reports across categories and review items associated with adherence to standards such as ISO 26262 for functional safety.
5. Jira links can be utilized to track IP change requests. Notifications can be sent to projects using an impacted IP regarding the problem and the documented fix.
What is Semiconductor IP Management?
A semiconductor IP management system pulls together all a company’s internal & 3rd party IP into a searchable IP catalog that every designer can access, regardless of their location. IP management also automates the IP publishing process, enables managers to set permissions for secure IP usage, track where the various IP & versions are being used, and provides IP verification status. Fully supports IP lifecycle management.
