The increase in speed also increased the efficiency of verification. Gemini CSX allows the user to detect system-level problems that are otherwise extremely difficult to find. To further prove Gemini' s value, NEC benchmarked its previously verified Sound Processing Chip. After tapeout of the chip, NEC's CAD team used the RTL and gate data from the Sound Processing Chip development team, trying to map as much of the chip as possible to NSIM to obtain the maximum performance of Gemini. After mapping only a part of the testbench to NSIM, the performance NEC achieved with Gemini was 290 times faster than Verilog-XL gate level simulation.
Faster performance is what makes that possible.
We can be one or more steps ahead of our competitors. Although speed and performance draw multimedia companies like NEC to IKOS verification solutions, the flexibility of those products is also a benefit that many customers come to appreciate. The flexibility of Gemini added value to NEC's multimedia chip project by allowing the designers to work with their own design. No modifications were required such as changing from asynchronous to synchronous design style. Since the successful launch of this product, NEC has been using Gemini and other IKOS verification solutions on a variety of chip designs that will guide the future of multimedia.