As CES was unrolling last week, Marseille Networks sent out an intriguing press release with two messages of interest: First, they're marketing in a new Virtual Tape-Out methodology for silicon design, but their second announcement, in my view, may "bury the lead," in that they've created a platform for quad-HD video displays as a demonstration project for the new process.

Marseille says their Virtual Tape-Out methodology takes expensive trial-and-error out of prototyping, thereby fueling rapid development to meet consumer demand. Ultimately, Marseille virtualization technology lowers the risks associated with developing new silicon and increases time to market that can potentially lead to earlier design selection in the device manufacturing process.  

“Today’s consumer electronics market demands advanced features to be delivered at light speed,” said Amine Chabane, CEO of Marseille. “The beauty of applying virtual chip prototyping to the problem is that OEMs can actually see the technology working in an end device at the system level, providing assurance they are choosing the right chip the first time and delivering a competitive product faster than ever before.”

As proof of the viability of the new technology, Marseille also announced its line of 4xHD™ video co-processors for the flat panel TV, PC and A/V receiver markets allowing OEMs to rapidly make the move from 1080p HD video to the visually stunning Quad-HD. With less than $5million in funding to date, Marseille developed their line of complex video chips in less than 12 months each. Such an effort in the past would likely have required an up-front design spend of nearly four times that much or more.

Marseille says their management team combines decades of expertise and innovation in video and networking chip design and has a deep experience in DVD, Blu-ray, Set-Top Box and HDTV SoC design and high quality compression. They say their team has a rich track record of developing first-time-working silicon and has successfully delivered millions of innovative digital chips to the market. 

Marseille says they have many patents in process and are currently working with leading OEMs, panel manufacturers, and silicon providers to use the Virtual Tape-Out methodology to solve challenges in moving to Quad-HD, such as performance, power consumption, time-to-market and cost.  

“With these virtualization technologies, we will be able to further decrease the cost of design as presently predicted in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors revitalizing both the Fabless Semiconductor Industry and the ASIC Semiconductor Industry,” said Gary Smith, principal analyst for Gary Smith EDA, a design consultant and industry expert, in Marseille's press release.

Video Through Virtualization™ (VTV) 4xHD™
Marseille’s Video Through Virtualization™ (VTV) platform and 4xHD™ Product Family enables efficient design of Quad-HD All-In-One PC’s, monitors and Quad-HD TV’s. The VTV 1200 4xHD™ products allow CE device manufacturers to easily ramp their existing designs to support Quad-HD with minimal hardware and software changes, resulting in faster time to market. OEMs can leverage existing hardware, maximize HD design spend and support new Quad-HD standards for a fraction of the cost and time, without sacrificing performance, the company says.

For more information, visit Marseille Networks.