RICHARDSON, TX – Seamless interoperability between Asset InterTech and Mentor Graphics Tessent products for the IEEE P1687 Internal JTAG embedded instrumentation standard will allow engineers to accurately debug and isolate issues in either a complex system-on-a-chip or on the printed circuit board where the chip has been deployed, the companies said today.

Speaking at the International Test Conference this week, the firms jointly announced their commitment to "jump-start" adoption of IJTAG, a development what will include a series of workshops around the world.

IJTAG resources, including embedded instruments and a network connecting them, are inserted into a chip with Mentor’s Tessent IJTAG solution. These instruments then allow engineers to verify and characterize the functionality and performance of the SoC at the chip level. When deployed on a PCB, Asset's ScanWorks tool will be able to provide a debug loop by accessing IJTAG resources to isolate problems in both the SoC and the board. Issues found at the chip level can be corrected before additional devices are fabricated, the companies said.

“This two-way debug feedback between chip and board eliminates any doubt about whether the faulty behavior is in the chip or on the board,” said Al Crouch, vice chairman of the IEEE P1687 IJTAG working group and a chief technologist for Asset. “Of course, conformance to the IEEE P1687 standard is critical to the interoperability between our ScanWorks tool and Mentor’s Tessent IJTAG solution. In my opinion, IJTAG will take a major step toward approval soon and once that happens, momentum will quickly increase for full industry adoption.”

“The complexity of today’s SoCs and the growing number of IP blocks integrated into these designs are making IJTAG a necessity if the industry is going to maintain its rapid pace of new product introductions,” said Stephen Pateras, product marketing director at Mentor. "Aligning Tessent IJTAG with ASSET’s ScanWorks is a big step toward enabling our customers to fully capitalize on the potential of the IJTAG standard.”

To help promote the standard, the companies plan a series of workshops for the spring of 2015. For information: www.asset-intertech.com/Products/IJTAG-Test/ASSET-Mentor-Seminar-Series

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