August 16, 2012 -- Designers of microserver circuit boards based on the Intel Atom processor now have a tool capable of non-intrusively validating the signal integrity on high-speed input/ output (HSIO) and memory buses. The ScanWorks platform for embedded instruments from ASSET InterTech, Inc is the first design validation tool for Intel Atom designs that does not rely on placing a physical probe on a bus to monitor its signal integrity.

Over the last eight years, Intel and ASSET have collaborated on validation and test tools which deliver extensive visibility of the signal integrity on high-speed buses in order to overcome the shortcomings of legacy intrusive probe-based test equipment such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers. Because buses with speeds in excess of 5Gbps become super-sensitive to capacitive coupling effects, the signaling on these buses is distorted when a physical probe is placed on them. To counteract this, Intel developed and is implementing an instrumentation technology that is embedded in its advanced chips. ASSET's ScanWorks HSIO for Intel Architecture (IA) is the first non-intrusive software-based toolkit to take advantage of Intel's embedded instrumentation technology.

The ScanWorks HSIO validation tools now support all of Intel's processor platforms, including Intel Core processors for desktop, mobile and ultrathin laptops, Intel Xeon processors for servers, embedded and communications, and storage systems, and now Atom processors for micro servers, system-on-chip (SOC) and other types of systems. ASSET is a key third-party vendor (TPV) to Intel.

Availability and Pricing

ScanWorks High-Speed I/O (HSIO) for Intel Architecture (IA) based on Intel Atom is available now. Pricing for a one-year subscription is $10,000.

Posted by: John Miklosz