FPGA

Activity: Since mid-2005 there has been considerable interest in the OCP standard from both the FPGA and military user-communities, which are often one and the same. In neither of these arenas is there is a comprehensive and non-proprietary industry IP-core interface scheme in play. OCP-IP has defined a comprehensive ‘family’ standard which is capable of specifying the protocol requirements for the most sophisticated IP-cores and accommodating their diverse functionalities, operations and integration schemes with optimal system performance. At the same time, the OCP standard also offers the most simple and frugal solutions for interfaces required on low-complexity IP’s. It is this comprehensive and inclusive nature of the OCP socket that makes the standard so powerful, while making it ideal for unifying and supporting the needs of both the FPGA and military communities.

Along with the many thousands of copies of the OCP standard taken into companies for research purposes, there are a growing number of corporations that have joined OCP-IP as formal members. These can be seen in our (Public) member listing, which is part of our Corporate Presentation found at www.ocpip.org/membership/presentation/. Many of our members are also listed and linked from our website at www.ocpip.org/membership/list/page1.

In early '06, OCP-IP engaged in discussions with a number of institutions representing the FPGA and military communities. These institutions are wrestling with a broad set of needs for their own communities, but it became apparent that an OCP-based interface solution satisfies these needs, at least by fulfilling their requirement for a complete, non-proprietary, well-supported socket for IP-cores. Such IP’s need to be deployed and reused in the numerous development communities of these organizations.

Use of OCP permits inter-divisional and cross-company sharing of IP-cores and also assists the IP Supplier community, who can now develop cores, ready for deployment, and avoid unprofitable rework of interfaces (with prohibitive reverification costs!) in support of individual customer requests. Please see our white paper regarding the importance of, and benefits from, “sockets,” which can be found at www.ocpip.org/socket/whitepapers/.  It explains how this is achieved while fully supporting the technical requirements of users.

As we publish news in these segments, this space will be updated. Should you have questions or wish to contact us about your own participation in this subject area, please email us at admin@ocpip.org.