Hyper-acceleration and HW/SW co-verification as an essential part of IBM eServer z900 verification

Hardware/software (HW/SW) co-verification can considerably shorten the time required for system integration and bring-up. But co-verification is limited by the simulation speed achievable whenever hardware models are required to verify hardware and software interactions. Although the use of a general-purpose hardware accelerator as an extremely fast simulator resolves performance aspects, it generates a new set of handling, efficiency, and serviceability demands. This paper describes a means for addressing those demands through the use of one of the largest hyper-acceleration systems created thus far, and describes many new associated features that have been implemented in operating software.