ASSET Commits to Developing Open Embedded Instrument Tools for the Internal JTAG Standard
RICHARDSON, TX, April 29, 2008
ASSET® InterTech is
developing and will bring to market open embedded
instrumentation tools based on the preliminary IEEE standard
P1687 Internal JTAG (IJTAG). According to Glenn Woppman,
president and CEO of ASSET, the standard is close enough to
ratification to begin developing tools.
“Electronics manufacturers are
realizing that the external design validation, test, and
debug technologies which they have now are simply running
out of gas,” said Mr. Woppman. “As a result, chip vendors as
well as the system manufacturers themselves are embedding
instruments into silicon. Now, both the chip vendors and
system suppliers need open tools to work with these embedded
instruments. For the sake of efficiency and agility, these
tools must be able to manage embedded instruments from any
chip vendor. This is where the IJTAG standard comes in.”
“It is fairly common to develop silicon
or tools conforming to a preliminary standard so that
manufacturers can become acquainted with the standard before
its final ratification. We went though this same process
with IEEE 1149.1 JTAG, the original boundary scan standard,
when, as part of Texas Instruments at the time, we committed
to developing tools before the standard actually was
ratified, and in the long run, we believe we accelerated the
adoption rate of boundary scan. As a tools supplier, we
think it is critical at this time to send a message to the
industry that we will support IJTAG.”
Two Embedded Instrumentation Experts Join ASSET
To put ASSET’s efforts on a fast-track,
two well known experts recently joined the company to lead
its development of IJTAG tools: Al Crouch and John Potter.
Al Crouch, formerly chief scientist and
director of DFx research and development at Inovys and
Verigy, has joined ASSET as chief technologist, core
instrumentation. Mr. Crouch has served for the last three
years as vice chairman of the working group developing the
IJTAG standard and has contributed significantly to the
hardware architecture definition. Over the last 20 years, he
has accumulated vast experience in chip design-for-test at
Freescale Semiconductor (formerly Motorola) and Texas
Instruments. Mr. Crouch has filed for more than 30 patents
and been granted 15.
John Potter, formerly the principal
automation architect at Inovys and an engineering supervisor
at Motorola, has joined ASSET’s IJTAG tools development
effort as senior principal technologist, core
instrumentation. Mr. Potter is a more recent member of the
P1687 IJTAG working group, focusing on the language portion.
Over the last 18 years in the electronics industry, he has
filed for four patents and been granted two.
“A great deal of validation and test
instrumentation technology is being embedded into silicon
these days,” said Mr. Crouch. “What’s needed now is an open
environment that can access all of this volume of embedded
instrumentation technology to organize it, schedule its
execution, access data collected by the instruments, analyze
this data, display results, and exert overall control over
these embedded technologies. The IJTAG standard, once it is
ratified, will provide the foundation for doing this, and
ASSET is well on its way to providing the open tools that
are needed.”
ScanWorks® – The Embedded Instrumentation Platform
ASSET, through its ScanWorks platform,
is applying the experience it has gained from two decades as
a supplier of boundary scan test tools using JTAG access to
the development of open embedded instrumentation tools. The
boundary scan infrastructure embedded into chips and circuit
boards is one of several technologies that can form the
basis for an embedded instrumentation toolset. In recent
years, ASSET has significantly enhanced its ScanWorks
platform with embedded instrumentation capabilities such as
CPU-emulation functional test and signal integrity analysis
utilizing embedded Intel® IBIST (Interconnect Built-In
Self-Test) technology.
With its advanced automation, data
acquisition, and data analysis features, ScanWorks will
continue as a leading platform for structural boundary scan
test. It has become the boundary scan system of choice for
practically all major communications and defense/avionics
suppliers including Cisco, Ericsson, Motorola,
Alcatel-Lucent, Tellabs, Huawei, Raytheon, Rockwell,
Lockheed Martin, BAE, ITT, Northrop Grumman, and Smiths. In
addition, ScanWorks’ adoption by companies like Microsoft
for its Xbox 360 video game console and Delphi for its
automotive electronics demonstrates that ScanWorks will
continue its leadership as boundary scan proliferates in the
computer, set-top box, consumer electronics, industrial
controls, and automotive industries.
About ASSET InterTech
ASSET provides open embedded
instrumentation tools to the electronics industry for design
validation, test, and debug. The ScanWorks platform allows
users to validate and test semiconductors, circuit boards,
or entire systems during every phase of a product's life,
including design, manufacturing/repair, and field
maintenance and to program chips in-system after they have
been soldered to a circuit board. ASSET’s MicroMaster
product line uses true CPU emulation technology to perform
extensive functional test and diagnostic routines on circuit
boards and chips and to program logic and memory devices
in-system at high CPU speeds. ASSET InterTech is located
outside of Dallas, TX, at 2201 North Central Expressway,
Suite 105, Richardson, TX 75080.
For product information, call
888-694-6250, send faxes to 972-437-2826, direct e-mail to
ai-info@asset-intertech.com, or visit the company’s
website at
www.asset-intertech.com.