Validation Tools for Products with new 22nm Intel Core Processors

07 March 2011 – ASSET is the first tools provider to launch third-party validation and debug tools for designs targeting the new 22nm "Ivy Bridge" Intel Core processors for the desktop and mobile marketplaces. The new processors will follow Intel’s recently released 2nd generation Intel Core processor products. Because of the higher speeds and complexities of these platforms, manufacturers will have greater requirements for validation and debug tools to ensure new products will be delivered to market in a timely manner.

The ScanWorks High-Speed IO Toolkit for PC Client validates and debugs circuit board designs targeting the future Intel Core processor family for desktop/mobile designs that will be fabricated at the 22 nanometer (nm) process node.

ScanWorks is a high-level diagnostic tool that can graphically visualize and display validation and debug information down to the level of an individual bit or a specific lane on a high-speed serial bus. The buses that can be validated include the DDR3, PCI Express Graphics (PEG) and Direct Media Interface (DMI) buses. Based on encoded information derived from the processor’s BIOS (basic input/output system), ScanWorks can quickly determine the poorest performing lanes or data lines on a bus and display the results of its diagnostic analysis graphically for easy understanding by engineers.

ASSET has tailored the ScanWorks High-Speed IO Toolkit for PC Client as a web-based product offering which meets the typical validation and debug needs of engineers designing for the mobile and desktop marketplaces.

“Time is of the utmost importance in the desktop and mobile markets. As such, it is very critical that users of this ScanWorks toolkit are able to purchase it, obtain training and acquire reference material on it very quickly,” said Tim Caffee, vice president of board validation for ASSET. “In addition to buying this toolkit online, the entire support infrastructure of training, training materials, user documents and other requirements can be downloaded directly from the web. This allows the ScanWorks High-Speed IO Toolkit for PC Client to be deployed quickly when the design team reaches that very critical point in the process when the performance of high-speed buses must be validated or debugged.”

Pricing and Availability

The ScanWorks High-Speed IO Toolkit for PC Client is available now at www.asset-intertech.com. Pricing is $1,995 for a 90-day license. In addition to tools for designs targeting 22nm based versions of Intel® microarchitecture codenamed Sandy Bridge, ASSET’s ScanWorks supports a number of other Intel® platforms. For more information, call +44 1782 418 028, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.asset-intertech.com.

ScanWorks® – The Embedded Instrumentation Platform

ASSET, through its ScanWorks platform, is applying the experience it has gained from two decades as a leading supplier of IEEE 1149.1 boundary-scan (JTAG) test tools to the development of embedded instrumentation tools. The boundary-scan infrastructure that is embedded into chips and circuit boards is one of several technologies which can form the basis for an embedded instrumentation toolset. In recent years, ASSET has significantly enhanced ScanWorks beyond boundary-scan test with the addition of other embedded instrumentation technologies, including processor-controlled test (PCT) and tools for Intel IBIST (Interconnect Built-In Self Test), an embedded instrumentation technology that Intel and other companies are embedding into next-generation chips and chipsets.