IntelliProp Introduces OEM Solutions for Consumer Electronics Storage Applications

CE-ATA products allow faster time to market with lower risk to functionality

Longmont, CO, March 23 — IntelliProp, Inc., a global provider of verification components and ASIC core IP, today announced three products focused on the emerging consumer electronics storage market. Consumer electronics companies and storage companies have joined together to define a storage interface tailored to the needs of the handheld and consumer electronics (CE) market segments. This joint effort is known as the CE-ATA initiative which has been formed to address the requirements of the handheld and CE market segments (www.CE-ATA.org). CE-ATA is an interface using subsets of ATA commands to improve performance for multimedia applications in handheld and consumer electronic devices. While other commands exist for storage devices, consumer devices have a different set of technical requirements which CE–ATA addresses. The electronics industry and consumers both benefit from a standardized CE-ATA solution. The electronics industry benefits from CE-ATA because it will have access to multiple storage solutions for less than the cost of customized designs and consumers benefit from CE-ATA because they will have access to a greater variety of electronic products that are compatible with each other.

IntelliProp has developed the CE-ATA eVC, the CE-ATA interface core, and the CE-ATA to Compact Flash+ bridge ASIC. IntelliProp’s suite of CE-ATA tools will allow OEM’s to quickly and confidently bring components to market utilizing the recently adopted CE-ATA (www.CE-ATA.org) storage interface protocol. “With the growth of portable consumer devices, IntelliProp’s decision to offer CE-ATA based tools demonstrates our commitment to the role CE-ATA will play in the integration of storage devices into consumer electronics. Our CE-ATA products are designed to assist in the rapid development of CE-ATA based ASICs and provide storage vendors an opportunity to quickly enter the CE-ATA market.” Said Gerry Goodman, CEO, IntelliProp Inc.

IntelliProp’s CE-ATA e-based verification component (CE-ATA eVC) is the latest product in IntelliProp’s family of verification components. The IntelliProp eVC, when used in conjunction with Verisity’s e-based simulation tools, provides robust protocol compliance coverage and the benefit of a psuedo random simulation environment. As a pre-built simulation test bench, the CE-ATA eVC allows OEM designers to quickly verify CE-ATA designs. Features of the eVC include data integrity verification, error case injection, coverage analysis, and protocol compliance verification. The CE-ATA eVC is available as either an individual seat license or on a corporate-wide site license basis.

IntelliProp’s CE-ATA interface core (CE-ATA Core) provides OEM designers the ability to quickly integrate a CE-ATA interface into their ASIC designs. The CE-ATA Core is a fully synchronous design and is available for either host or target applications. The CE-ATA Core can be configured to meet application specific interface data bus widths and interface speeds. The CE-ATA Core will perform all low-level functionality required to interface to CE-ATA compliant devices, including voltage, speed, and bus width negotiation. In addition, the CE-ATA Core provides ATA state functionality allowing low processing overhead from the application processor or state machines. The core internal register set is accessible via the industry standard AHB interface. In conjunction with IntelliProp’s CE-ATA eVC, the CE-ATA Core has been extensively verified in a rigorous simulation environment. The CE-ATA Core is currently being verified through implementation in an FPGA emulation vehicle. Licensing terms for the CE-ATA Core are structured to meet common industry business models for IP usage.

Leveraging its experience in the storage industry and it’s library of core IP and verification tools, IntelliProp has developed a CE-ATA to CompactFlash+ Bridge ASIC (CE-ATA Bridge). The CE-ATA Bridge will allow storage media providers to quickly bring CE-ATA compliant devices to market with minimal risk to functionality. Because the CE-ATA Bridge allows a seamless connection between a CE-ATA host and a CompactFlash+ target, full use of existing hardware and firmware is preserved. No firmware or software is required to make use of the IntelliProp CE-ATA Bridge solution. The CE-ATA Bridge allows OEM storage device vendors with a Compact Flash+ device to quickly enter the consumer electronics storage market without substantial investment in product development.