[ Press Release ]
ASIP Solutions and PROTOtyping Japan Corporation Join Hands
on Legacy Processor Revival/Development and Distribution

2011/7/4(Released by ASIP,PROTOtyping)

July 4, 2011, Tokyo, Japan ASIP Solutions, Inc (Head Office : Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan, Representative Director, President & CEO : Renji Mikami, “ASIPS”), a pioneer in the area of embedded processor IP core design and development, and PROTOtyping Japan Corporation（Head Office : Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan, Managing Director : Noriyuki Sasaki, “PTJ”）, a leading distributor of prototyping systems and their related EDA tools, IPs, and prototyping boards, announced that they have signed a comprehensive distribution agreement on revival/development and sales of legacy processors. Products and solutions are available now from PROTOtyping Solutions from July 1, 2011.

ASIPS has developed and provided the end-users with the ASIP Mesiter, a processor development tool for specific applications, as well as provided services to develop and supply the optimal processor IP cores tailored to customers’ needs at low cost. PTJ is a leading semiconductor distributor selling ASIC/SoC evaluation boards utilizing FPGAs, IP cores, and EDA solutions, and the company has been focusing on IP business in recent years.

Legacy processors with classic architectures and in ancient semiconductor process technologies are still utilized for various products ranging from consumer electronics, industrial, to medical applications and their demands are often long-lasting. As the semiconductor geometry keeps shrinking and new generations of devices keep coming out, legacy processors may be discontinued and the supply for such processors depends on inventories. And once the inventories of such legacy processors run out, users will have no choice but to redesign and re-manufacture their systems, which require new development resources and costs, thus the users may need to reflect such increased costs onto their products and competitiveness of such users may be affected.

The revival and reuse scheme of legacy processors realized by ASIPS and PTJ leverages various legacy processor-compatible IPs owned by ASIPS and makes it possible to re-design and re-manufacture the processors tailored to customers’ needs in FPGA, utilizing the optimal semiconductor process technologies. Development and support for such processors will be provided by ASIPS, and marketing, sales, and customer relationship management will be conducted collaboratively and jointly by ASIPS and PTJ. ASIPS and PTJ are both start-ups and they continue to work together to deliver the new business scheme in a short amount of time, leveraging each other’s strength and expertise.

The benefits of FPGAs utilizing legacy processors-compatible IPs and services provided by ASIPS and PTJ are that the products are low-power, have smaller footprints and can be set in different packaging compared to their original versions due to leveraging advanced semiconductor process technologies. And their availabilities will be assured since the products are not dependent on manufacturing conditions and statuses of particular semiconductor manufacturers. Also, by implementing IPs on FPGAs, the products can be supplied in small quantities at low cost and certain functionalities can be enhanced and/or limited based on individual users’ requirements and specifications. As ASIPS and PTJ have executed the comprehensive distribution agreement, PTJ, in addition to sales and distribution of such legacy processors, will sell and distribute all the other ASIPS products as well, and as both companies will focus on its area of expertise, the two companies are now capable of providing products at low cost and services in a flexible manner, which is impossible for large-scale semiconductor companies.

Renji Mikami, Representative Director, President & CEO of ASIP Solutions, Inc

“ASIPS has been developing and supplying our customers with the ASIP Meister, our processor designing system based on our know-how from our extensive R&D activities in the microprocessor area”, says Renji Mikami, Representative Director, President & CEO of ASIPS. “As the market needs vary these days, we have also decided to start development and supply of processor IP cores themselves. Our biggest strengths are our capabilities to develop processors in-house, to run verification systems on our own, and to provide high-level, hands-on support as a Japanese company to its Japanese customers. As we collaborate with PTJ, our development environment for FPGA prototyping as well as system-level design is expanding and we are now able to provide our customers processors and SoCs they require from their prototyping stage in a flexible and timely manner”.

Noriyuki Sasaki, CEO of PTJ.

“PTJ was founded in Kobe in 2003 as a distributor of prototyping systems and their related EDA tools, IPs, and prototyping boards. In March 2011, its head office was moved to Shin Yokohama, and we are expanding our business, focusing particularly in the area of IP business”, says Noriyuki Sasaki, CEO of PTJ. “The objective of our partnership with ASIPS is to collaborate with each other in the area of IP development and technical support where ASIPS has its expertise, and sales, marketing, and customer relationship management where PTJ excels, and for both companies to reflect our customers’ needs to actual products in a short amount of time and at low cost. As two start-ups join hands, we are now able to provide a comprehensive service ranging from development, sales, to support and further enhance our customers level of satisfaction, which would have been hard for one company to realize on its own”.

About ASIP Solutions, Inc. (ASIPS):

ASIPS is a processor IP core development and sales company founded in April 2005 in Japan. Besides dealing with the processor IP cores, ASIPS provides related products and services for embedded processors such as EDA tools and consulting services. Because the research achievement of Imai Lab of Osaka University has been inherited to ASIPS, ASIPS can propose various cost effective Application domain Specific Instruction set Processors (ASIPs) such as high performance, low-power, and so on, depending on the users' requirements. For more details, please visit http://www.asip-solutions.com/

About PROTOtyping Japan Corporation (PTJ):

PTJ was founded in Japan in October 2003 as a technology distributor of domestic and overseas semiconductor-related products, such as prototyping systems and their related EDAs, IPs, and hardware. Especially in the area of ASIC prototyping system, PTJ has the biggest product portfolio in Japan and has a broad customer base. For more details, please visit http://www.prototyping-japan.com/

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