Happy Holidays - OVM on The Path to Standardization

I've just heard that the Accellera VIP Technical Subcommittee (TSC) has voted to make the OVM the base for their Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) standard and, in spite of the holidays, I’m so happy that I have to blog about it. When Cadence and Mentor embarked upon the Open Verification Methodology project two and a half years ago, we didn’t know for sure what the results would be. We felt that the industry was crying out for a truly open multi-vendor solution, so we made it happen, and we had confidence that it would succeed.

There is no doubt that the OVM has succeeded. I checked the statistics on the OVM World site the other day (before the new 2.1 release) and saw that there had been more than 50,000 downloads of the OVM kits and community contributions (extensions and utilities supporting the OVM). That doesn’t include page views of all the other content on the site, such as the 5,000 posts on the OVM Forum. I’m really glad that the Accellera VIP TSC has recognized the enormous popularity, impact, and technical excellence of the OVM in deciding to make it the base for the UVM.

I know that that a few users have been sitting on the fence waiting for Accellera to bless a methodology. Standardizing the current OVM as UVM erases any lingering doubts about which verification methodology to choose. Some current OVM users may be concerned that standardization will stop the evolution of verification methodology. I am not worried about this; I expect OVM World to continue as the industry’s premier site for verification innovation, and that many of the useful and creative community contributions will become part of the UVM, either in the initial release or in subsequent releases.

I sincerely invite my many OVM colleagues to celebrate how far we have come in such a short time. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Tom A.

The truth is out there...sometimes it's in a blog.