Tabula Announces Release of Stylus Software Supporting ABAX 3PLD Devices in a Secure Cloud Computing Environment

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing its momentum innovating how programmable chips are applied to the communications, industrial, medical, test, and military/aerospace industries, Tabula, Inc. today announced the availability of its Stylus® software supporting its ABAX™ family of 3D Programmable Logic Devices (3PLDs). Pioneering the application of secure, Web-based software for designing with programmable logic devices, Tabula is offering Stylus within an advanced cloud computing environment. With Stylus designers can harness computing power through the Web from cloud resources to take full advantage of Tabula's breakthrough Spacetime™ 3D architecture, eliminating IT hassle while accelerating time-to-market at lower costs. As the industry's first integrated, synthesis and place-and-route (SP&R) package supporting 3PLD devices; Stylus manages the underlying reconfiguration transparently, automatically mapping standard RTL into Spacetime. In addition, it combines leading-edge synthesis technology with 3D, timing-driven, place-and-route within a flow and methodology that are familiar to FPGA and ASIC designers, thus requiring little or no learning curve.

"Tabula has significantly lowered the barrier of adoption of programmable logic devices for high performance, high volume applications," said Rich Wawrzyniak, Sr. Market Analyst, Semico Research Corp. "Combining the breakthrough price/performance of ABAX 3PLDs with the proven design methodology of the Stylus software will allow system designers to take advantage of programmability in a wide range of applications that previously required ASICs or ASSPs. The fact that Stylus uses a familiar design flow, similar to that of ASICs and FPGAs will be key in the broad adoption of ABAX products."

Fully integrated SP&R system

With an integrated SP&R system supported by a browser-like GUI, Stylus offers an intuitive, familiar design environment for ASIC and FPGA designers. At the heart of Stylus is Spacetime-optimized synthesis coupled with timing-driven 3D place-and-route. Stylus enables designers to realize all of the benefits of 3D by automatically and transparently mapping standard RTL directly into Spacetime. Stylus accepts standard VHDL/Verilog/System Verilog inputs as well as SDC constraints. In another industry first, Stylus' integrated GUI links logical, physical, and schematic project views, giving developers the ability to analyze all aspects of a design together. Several productivity-enhancing features have been implemented, including advanced floor-planning, static timing, and power analysis. In addition, Stylus provides on-chip debug capabilities by supporting the integration of debug logic and direct probing of select nodes in a user circuit. Stylus offers seamless integration of soft IP cores from Tabula's leading IP partners, and supports design libraries for industry-standard logic simulators.

"Today marks an important milestone for the programmable logic industry," said Alain Bismuth, Tabula Vice President of Marketing. "With Stylus, we have delivered an industrial-strength 3D synthesis and timing driven place-and-route system that makes the breakthrough price/performance of Spacetime and of the ABAX 3PLD devices available to all FPGA and ASIC designers, with an entirely familiar design flow. Unlike other decade-old development systems, Stylus is designed from the ground up, using today's most advanced synthesis and place-and-route algorithms, is fully integrated, and is accessible in the way all modern design tools should be – through the Cloud."

Cloud Computing – the way modern software is delivered

Tabula created Stylus in a cloud-computing environment to ensure that designers always have access to the latest software without either the overhead associated with IT management or the expense of compute servers. Access of the cloud through the Web not only increases productivity but also enhances customers' experience by enabling real-time, on-site-like, technical support. Meticulously developed with security and privacy in mind, Tabula Compute Cloud keeps each customer's data separate and secure via best-in-class processes and technologies.

Pricing and Availability

Stylus is immediately available free of charge to Tabula customers. www.tabula.com/tools/stylus.php.

About the ABAX 3PLD Device Family

Tabula's ABAX family of 3D Programmable Logic Devices (3PLD) represents a new category of general purpose chips. Leveraging Tabula's breakthrough Spacetime architecture, ABAX delivers programmability with unprecedented capabilities at volume price points. Setting new marks in density and performance for logic, memory, and signal processing, ABAX extends the benefits of programmability to many applications that previously required ASICs or ASSPs. In addition, ABAX devices have a rich mixture of fully configurable, high-performance I/Os, including 920 general-purpose I/Os and 48 6.5Gbps SerDes. The design flow is similar to FPGA and ASIC flows, using synthesis, placement, and routing to compile designs from RTL into silicon automatically. To increase designers' productivity, ABAX also supports a broad portfolio of soft IP cores. ABAX products are manufactured using TSMC's 40 nm process. For more information about ABAX devices, please visit http://www.tabula.com/products/overview.php.

About Tabula

Tabula is a privately held fabless semiconductor company developing 3D Programmable Logic Devices. Its ABAX family of 3PLDs, based on Tabula's patented Spacetime architecture, and supported by its Stylus development software, sets new density, performance, and affordability benchmarks for programmable logic, memory, and signal processing. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Tabula has assembled a leadership team consisting of industry veterans and successful entrepreneurs. The company is backed by top-tier investors with a long-term view toward enduring market leadership. Tabula, the Tabula logo, ABAX, the ABAX logo, Spacetime, the Spacetime logo, Stylus, the Stylus logo, and other designated brands included herein are trademarks of Tabula in the United States and other countries.

SOURCE Tabula, Inc.