IC Manage Adds Views Storage Acceleration Software

IC Manage, Inc. introduced its IC Manage Views storage acceleration software, a version aware, virtual file system that presents complete workspace views, while only transferring data on demand to a local file cache.

IC Manage Views removes network transfer bottlenecks to accelerate Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool performance, achieve Zero-Time Sync (ZTS) for workspaces, and reduce storage utilization. It is compatible with all storage technologies and works at both local and remote sites.

Zero-Time Sync – a one gigabyte, 10,000 file workspace takes approximately one second to populate, allowing tools to run immediately.

Faster EDA tool performance – utilizes local storage for reads, so design engineers get local speeds and avoid delays caused by network latency. Utilizing network storage for writes provides consistent data storage and access.

Reduced total storage – It automatically rotates least recently used files to stay within workspace cache quotas, and handles cache recovery in the event of failures or errors.

Design File Management Issues,
including EDA tool slowdown
According to 524 respondent Global Design Management survey results released by IC Manage, the primary engineering challenges with design file management fall into two major areas: speed and storage. The top speed problems are network storage bottlenecks slowing the creation and updates of remote and local workspaces, and EDA tool performance. The storage problem is that the cost of storage capacity needed to keep up with expanding design data is too high – design teams are constantly wrestling with storage needs.

The survey found that on average, network data transfer bottlenecks account for 30% of the EDA tool iteration time. Numerous EDA design tools are impacted by network bottlenecks, including place and route, RTL functional verification, timing analysis, SPICE simulation/analysis, physical verification, and custom layout.
 
Using symbolic links has been a common technique to reduce disk space usage. However, almost three-quarters of symlinks users cite major issues. Approximately half cite the lack of control when using mirrors due to the automatic data push or out-of-sync mirrors. Other issues include workspace instability when versions are removed from the symbolic link trees to recover space, and security problems caused by difficulty managing UNIX-style directory permissions.

"IC Manage Views gives design groups the flexibility to build workspaces anywhere and at any location, all at local speed, and avoid problems with disk space allocation," said Shiv Sikand, IC Manage engineering VP. "IC Manage Views is scalable, so the savings increase with the number of users and the size of the databases."

IC Manage Views Technology Details
It unloads work from a central NAS filer, thereby removing the network bottleneck and accelerating its clients compute jobs. Designers and verification engineers are presented with a fully populated view of their files.

When the engineer initiates a read operation, it will obtain the file from the local cache; if the file is not there, IC Manage Views fetches it from the GDP repository. When a designer saves data, it will write it to local or network storage.

IC Manage Views has none of the limitations associated with symbolic links described in the survey results. Designers maintain workspace file control and stability, with fine-grained security configurations independent of file system permissions. It has no manual management of network cache storage and number of versions.

IC Manage Views is available on Linux. It is scheduled to be released on Windows before the end of 2012.