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Primarion Offers Intuitive GUI That Simplifies Design of Digital Power Supplies

Posted on: Monday, 3 March 2008, 09:00 CST

Primarion, a mixed-signal semiconductor company that designs, manufactures and markets digital power ICs, today announced the availability of its next generation PowerCode (PC) 2.1, an easy-to-use software tool, that will simplify the design process for its Di-POL family of digital controllers. The PC 2.1 features an intuitive graphical interface, which allows power solutions to be easily designed, modified and monitored. It completely eliminates the popular myth that digital power management is complex and requires knowledge of software programming.

STEP-BY-STEP DESIGN PROCESS

Primarion's PC 2.1 takes designers step-by-step through the process of designing a new chip, modifying a current design and evaluating actual hardware. The tool comes equipped with an automated design wizard and dialog boxes that help guide power engineers through the configuration of both single and multiple chips within a system. Extensive use of factory defaults and intuitive navigation will allow designers to reduce their cycle times from days to hours. During the design phase users are given the option to save their own defaults and templates. This allows them to avoid having to start from the beginning during the next design, saving both time and resources.

WINDOWS-BASED COMMAND SYSTEM

PC 2.1 uses an intuitive Windows-based command system that provides a user-friendly navigational environment, familiar to most. The command system allows designers to carry out quick and efficient design modifications when variables change mid-project. Adding to the ease-of-use is the graphical representation incorporated in the PC 2.1's interface. A tree graph on the main panel enables users to easily view and modify each project by clicking on the specific elements that need to be monitored or changed. This effective menu function helps speed up the design process.

CRITICAL TOOL FOR DESIGNERS

"Digital power solutions are getting more and more complex, which is why an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) is a critical tool for designers," said Deepak Savadatti, vice president of marketing for Primarion. "Our PC 2.1 is an analytical tool that takes the complexity out of the designers' hands and helps automate the design process. Tasks such as loop compensation and tedious power management features like tracking, sequencing and fault response are performed by our PC 2.1 based on the entered design parameters. The designers are not required to have knowledge of z transforms, as the PC 2.1 does all the calculations. The primary goal of the PC 2.1 is to simplify the task of designing digital DC/DC converters, which helps accomplish faster time-to-market and broader adoption of digital power."

Primarion's PC 2.1 is a fully integrated, complete, system-level digital power management solution. It helps customers effectively streamline the design process, while saving on product development cost. The PC 2.1 has the capability to configure, control and monitor multiple devices on a board, which further improves time-to-market. Its application-oriented interface enables users to bypass tedious programming processes and move right into the design, optimization and evaluation stages.

With innovative, easy-to-use solutions that offer cost savings and improved system-level performance, Primarion continues to drive the future of digital power management and is proving to be the IC vendor of choice for manufacturers in the telecom, datacom, computing, storage and graphics markets.

PC 2.1 Summary of Features:

User friendly and intuitive graphical interface:

Use of "point and click" (handles and spinners) for adjustments

Windows-based commands

Multi-lingual

Provides a design environment - with or without the hardware - allowing users to build new files, as well as modify and/or monitor existing projects

Configure, control and monitor single, as well as multiple chips with in a system

Bode plot and load models

Easy-to-use with minimum guidance

Quick setup/design:

Primarion defaults for a quick setup

Create and store user-defined templates for reuse to design other rails and configurations

Short cuts when user selects defaults

Robust Design:

System coherency check

Supports Packet Error Check (PEC)

Handles unexpected interrupts

Design wizard:

Ease-of-navigation

Robust nomenclatures

Q & A to guide through

Availability

Primarion's PC 2.1 is available for beta testing now, and final release will be available at the end of Q1 2008. For more information about PC 2.1, please contact Primarion at (866) 321-7746 or visit the company's Web site at http://www.primarion.com.

About Primarion:

Primarion is a mixed-signal integrated circuit company that addresses key inflection points in power conversion and power management driven by the exploding demand for digital content and information. Primarion's Digital Power ICs are positioned to beat traditional analog power ICs in cost per amp, performance and features with advantages that grow with each new processor generation. Headquartered in Torrance near Los Angeles, California (USA), the company also has an Asian regional office in Taipei, Taiwan. Primarion has received venture funding from eminent venture funds such as Accel Partners, Lehman Brothers, APV Technology Partners and W Capital Partners. Additional information is available online at http://www.primarion.com.

Source: Business Wire

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