July 18, 2006 -- The Open SystemC Initiative (OSCI) has announced the public availability of the IEEE 1666(TM)-2005 Standard SystemC Language Reference Manual (LRM) now accessible on the IEEE website. In addition, a companion open source proof-of-concept SystemC library developed by OSCI is now available for public review and comment on the OSCI website (www.systemc.org).

By making the IEEE 1666 LRM freely available worldwide, OSCI furthers its commitment to the rapid growth of a global community of system, semiconductor, intellectual property, embedded software and EDA companies. Beginning immediately, companies, universities, research institutions and individuals will be able to freely access the standard and develop applications for SystemC-based tools and technologies. The IEEE 1666 LRM will be available on an ongoing basis to download in a PDF format, at no cost to users and tool suppliers around the world.

"The opportunity to access the IEEE 1666 standard directly from the web will transcend geographic boundaries in educating people on the benefits of using SystemC for system design and verification," said Chuck Adams, Chair of the IEEE Standards Association Corporate Advisory Group at the IEEE. "By making IEEE 1666 publicly available, the potential user base and the next generation of tools have been greatly expanded, further cultivating a healthy environment built around the standard."

"OSCI's main objective is to provide a standard and support it for fostering innovation and a healthy ecosystem of commercial intellectual property, tools, silicon and systems," said Alain Clouard, chairman of OSCI. "To support this goal, we have continually provided valuable information and documentation at no cost to users as part of our open source distribution. The IEEE 1666 LRM surpasses our previous efforts in its quality and comprehensiveness. We are very satisfied and enthusiastic to make this well-defined SystemC standard available freely to the public."