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Introduction

Traditionally, Intel has been using high-end UNIX*-based RISC workstations for microprocessor design activity. However there are emerging compelling reasons why this traditional design environment should change to incorporate the IA-NT workstation. The main reasons for this change are as follows:

1. The advent of low-priced, high-performance Intel architecture workstations coupled with NT* operating systems IA-NT, which make IA-NT a formidable alternative to UNIX-RISC workstations.
2. The maturity of NT towards a stable, scalable operating system that supports high-end CAD applications.
3. Next-generation Intel^® CAD tools are moving from the legacy single CAD design environment, which is driven by scripts through command line interface, to a new kind of CAD environment. This new environment incorporates CAD design tools and office productivity tools into a tightly integrated visual cockpit that uses modern distributed computing components and Internet-driven technology that support multiple simultaneous CAD design environments. The IA-NT workstation provides an excellent development and design environment for these new-generation CAD applications.

In reality, we cannot convert the existing UNIX-RISC-based design flow to an IA-NT base in a single step due to the following reasons:

1. Many of the design automation tools are based on UNIX-centric scripts that are not easily portable to an NT environment.
2. Some of the internal CAD tools are tightly integrated with external CAD tools that are not available on NT.
3. The current design team skill set is UNIX-centric and would need to be updated for NT-centric design work.
4. Microprocessor design teams in the midst of projects cannot handle a change in environment due to the nature and complexity of such a change. This means that IA-NT can only be used for new projects.

The solution to converting to IA-NT therefore is to have a transition phase to support a production-capable mixed NT-UNIX design flow environment. To achieve this transition phase, the following needs to be done:

1. Build a robust NT-UNIX mixed computing environment with a shared file system. This will support the IA-NT DeskTop with backend IA-NT and UNIX compute servers (see Figure 1).
2. Migrate high compute usage CAD design flows, comprised of tools and scripts from UNIX, to native NT and keep UNIX-centric legacy tools, which use low computing power, on UNIX.
3. Develop cross-platform utilities for production use for a mixed NT-UNIX design environment where CAD tools on NT and UNIX are used in a seamless fashion.
4. Develop next-generation CAD tools native to IA-NT.

In this paper, we limit our discussion to the NT-UNIX cross-platform environment. We outline the various challenges faced and the techniques employed for the production use of a mixed NT-UNIX environment for CAD tool development in Design Technology.