Mastering AI Chip Complexity
Explore challenges and solutions in AI chip development
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Overview
Cisco Systems, Inc., a worldwide leader in IP-based networking solutions, provides the foundation for the internet and most corporate, education, and government networks around the world. Cisco's leading products and key technologies include advanced routing and switching, voice and video over IP, optical networking, wireless, storage networking, security, broadband, and content networking, making the internet more dynamic and powerful. Recently, Cisco leveraged Synopsys Cloud to drastically reduce their project schedule for library characterization from three months to four weeks.
"Synopsys Cloud delivered enormous compute and EDA tool scalability to accelerate library characterization using Synopsys PrimeLib. These resources were deployed rapidly, reducing the schedule for re-characterization from 3 months to 1 month."
Jon Stahl
|Senior Director of ASIC Development, Cisco
"Having experienced the flexibility that Synopsys Cloud offers to add EDA tools and compute instantaneously based on our needs, we are investigating how we can leverage Synopsys Cloud for future projects to speed time to market and enhance productivity."
Jon Stahl
|Senior Director of ASIC Development, Cisco
Challenges
Cisco faced several challenges that necessitated a swift and effective solution:
- Time-Critical Project: Needed to complete library characterization in three months to meet tape-out schedule.
- License Constraints: EDA licenses were not scalable and not available on demand.
- Infrastructure Deployment and Access: Long set-up times for the EDA environment with limited compute capacity and scalability.
Solution
Synopsys Cloud offered a unique solution for Cisco to finish characterization quickly by providing unlimited EDA tool licenses and compute resources:
- Unlimited EDA Tool Licenses: Using FlexEDA pay-per-use (PPU) licensing, Cisco got access to unlimited, on-demand Synopsys PrimeLib licenses for library characterization.
- Scalable Compute Resources: The Synopsys Cloud SaaS deployment offered the latest scalable and elastic compute resources available through Microsoft Azure.
- Rapid Deployment: The SaaS solution allowed Cisco to jumpstart the characterization flow project on a leading TSMC process within a few days, rather than weeks.
- Single Contract: A single contract covered both compute and EDA tools, simplifying the procurement and deployment process.
Results
The implementation of Synopsys Cloud brought significant benefits to Cisco:
- Rapid Scaling: Within a week, Cisco scaled to a large number of cores with a peak utilization of 1,200 CPUs.
- Full Utilization of Compute: Unlimited, on-demand true pay-per-use licenses removed licensing constraints, allowing full utilization of compute resources.
- Reduced Schedule: Cisco finished the characterization two months earlier than originally forecasted, reducing the schedule from three months to four weeks.
- CASPR Certification: Synopsys Cloud passed all metrics for Cisco's Vendor Security Assessment (VSA) and was granted CASPR certification.
Having experienced the flexibility that Synopsys Cloud offers to add EDA tools and compute instantaneously based on their needs, Cisco plans to explore further leveraging Synopsys Cloud for future time- and resource-constrained projects to speed time to market and enhance productivity.
