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Volume 12 (Nov 04, 2003)
"LSI of the Year 2003" awarded to "ISSP™" and "System LSI C-Based Design Environment"
On July 9, 2003, NEC Electronics received two "LSI of the Year 2003" awards, sponsored by Semiconductor Industry News and Reed Exhibitions Japan, Ltd. The new ASIC solution platform "ISSP (Instant Silicon Solution Platform) Series" was awarded the Excellence Award, and the "System LSI C-Based Design Environment," designed jointly by NEC Electronics and NEC Multimedia Research Institute, was awarded the Grand Prize. This double award, combined with a previous grand prize for the ASIC Unified Design Environment, "OpenCADR® V4," makes a total of three awards for NEC Electronics (formerly NEC).
Established in 1994 to promote market development and technology in the semiconductor industry, LSI of the Year awards acknowledge the most remarkable LSI products and technology in the Device category, and the best design environment/development tools in the Design Environment/Development Tool category. Until last year, the award was presented as "LSI Design of the Year." However, the name was changed this year, as the selection process gave greater consideration to mass production. This year, a total of 1,050 items were considered for the Device category, and 120 for the Design Environment/Development Tools category. For each category, three awards are presented: an Excellence Award, Judges' Special Award and Grand Prize.
Custom LSI Division Project Manager Naotaka Maeda attended the ceremony to receive the Excellence Award certificate and plaque for ISSP. With ISSP, our company has created a new product that possesses a high performance level that rivals cell-based ICs, but with a development period nearly as short as FPGAs. According to the judges' chairman, the deciding factor for the Excellence Award was this concept as well as the ease with which the transition to mass production can be made.
Senior Manager Kazutoshi Wakabayashi of NEC Multimedia Research Institute expressed his joy in receiving the award for the "System LSI C-Based Design Environment" in the Design Environment/Development Tool category with the following remarks.
"I'm very happy to receive this award since it has always been said that there was no chance this could be used whenever it came up in panel discussions at conferences. I would like to express my appreciation to everyone involved for the patient support despite such doubts. The software field, including CAD, has long been led by U.S.A companies. Since I joined this company, we have continued our research activities reflecting upon companies such as IBM and Bell Laboratories. Recently, I felt our efforts paying off when an executive from IBM's research institute said he was deeply impressed with our work. This was furthered when I heard from a researcher that even IBM has redoubled their efforts in high-end design. It made me feel that we are one step ahead in at least this field. From now on, I would like to work hard to spread 'C-Based Design Environment' throughout the world."
According to the chairman for the judging panel, the C-Based Design Environment was awarded the Grand Prize due to its popularity in the industry and it results in developing real chips.
These two award-winning products are this year's focal point for their success in meeting customers' needs with a strong technological base. NEC Electronics will continue working to make products and technologies such as these in the future.
*ISSP and OpenCAD are trademarks or registered trademarks of NEC Electronics Corp.
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