As more functionality converges onto a single device, it naturally leads to an increasingly large number of IP blocks on a chip. Before you consider developing or buying IP, remember not all IP is created equally and securing high-quality IP is imperative to getting your end design to market on time and on budget. This paper will explore three important determinants of IP quality: (1) Functional Correctness – Extensive configurability of digital IP for standards interfaces and how an IP vendor verifies across a very large number of configurations is an excellent indicator of how the IP will function within your system. (2) Interoperability – This is probably the single most important criteria for IP. Often this is mistakenly equated with compliance, which is required but not sufficient on its own. (3) Ease of Integration – This is directly related to time-to-market. IP that is difficult to integrate will lead to schedule risk and increased cost of the SoC design.