Virtual system prototyping can effectively contribute to lowering the risk and decreasing the time-to-market , by decreasing the time-to-decision and decision-to-market aspects of complex embedded and SOC designs. The major benefits of virtual system prototyping include:
1. Executable system specification: decreases the chance for errors due to ambiguity in documentation or miscommunication between customers and design teams.
2. High impact marketing tool: a virtual prototype can communicate effectively what IP or platform a vendor is offering.
3. Customer system validation: the virtual prototype can assume the role of an effective communication mechanism to reach out to existing and potential new customers.
4. IP integration, validation and re-use: virtual prototyping enables the integration of different high-level IP models, and the quick turn-around of different SOC variants using the multi-sourced IP.
5. Concurrent hardware / software design: the resulting prototypes are capable of executing application software on top of the virtual hardware at speeds of millions of cycles per second.
6. Guaranteed hardware / software integration.