Test in the emerging intellectual property business

The authors offer insight into their company's IP licensing business model and the importance of efficient and effective test to the success of products based on embedded CPU cores. It is concluded that the future looks rosy for both IP developers and integrators. We are finding ways of more easily exploiting the extra silicon area that is now becoming available as process technology shrinks yet further. Initiatives such as the VSIA and the Virtual Component Exchange (VCX; http://www.vcx.co.uk) in Scotland will make IP use and reuse even more commonplace. Yet testing all this functionality will remain a major challenge, one that IP developers, IP integrators, tools providers, and the DFT community must continue to tackle with enthusiasm.