Improve your software debug and system integration tasks for increased quality while reducing development
costs and schedules. Duplicate problems and clone customer-configurations for improved support, training and demo capabilities.

What can you do with Simics?

Begin Software Development Earlier

Simics creates agility in your development process which directly impacts your time-to-market. By using virtual hardware which is available before your target hardware is available, your software teams can begin software development much earlier than is typical.

Speed Development, Debug and Integration

Simics is an ideal platform for software developers — both at the board bring-up level and the software application level. At the board bring up level, Simics provides early access to virtual hardware to allow developers to have drivers, BSPs, and RTOS's ready to go when physical hardware arrives. In addition, debugging this type of code can often be challenging because developers don't have access to internal states and registers of hardware devices. Simics provides visibility and control of all internal states and registers and provides tracing and logging of device accesses. All of these features help simplify debugging of low-level software.

Application developers also benefit from Simics because they can develop, debug, and test their code on an entire system — not just on a reference board or in a host environment. The benefits of doing this are two-fold. First, integration doesn't occur at the end of the project where bugs are costly to fix. Instead, integration occurs throughout application development because everyone has access to the entire virtual system. Secondly, the hardest to find bugs frequently occur in the interaction between major components of the system — like boards or network nodes. By having all of these under the control of Simics, these bugs can be provoked and then reverse execution can help track down what caused them to occur.

Develop Software in Parallel with Hardware

Simics also enables software/hardware co-development. This means that instead of waiting for physical prototypes to return from fabrication, which can take weeks or months, your hardware teams can utilize virtual prototypes and get much quicker feedback from your software teams. Proposed changes can be tried out first virtually, and turned around in days. In addition, proposed hardware design changes can be more thoroughly understood and analyzed than through a virtual prototype than through a written document.

Reduce Project Risk

Reduction of risk is especially important when you are on the cutting edge of technology and want to incorporate a silicon device that may not yet be available for your early designs/prototypes. Furthermore, Simics can reduce project risks by simulating the entire system (instead of just a portion) so that your developers can develop, debug, and test on a complete system much earlier in the development lifecycle.

Reduce Project Cost

Not only do you save money with reductions in prototypes and prototype manufacturing, but your team members are more productive because Simics provides a development platform for the entire system, instead of just pieces of the system. In addition, you can reduce costs associated with maintain duplicate lab setups just to ensure that all team members have access to the target system.

Create Agility in Development

Do you have development facilities around the globe? If so, managing the logistics of transporting your target hardware can be complex and expensive. In addition, you risk damage to scarse hardware resources by shipping them around the globe to other development centers. Simics provides virtual hardware that can be transported electronically. Is your system available in many different configurations? If so, then with Simics you can automate the creation and switching of these configurations - through scripting and not through cable changes, jumper settings, etc.