Joerg Walter

Functional verification of the z990 superscalar, multibook microprocessor complex

This paper describes the verification methods and techniques that were established to verify the microarchitecture and architectural correctness of the z990 microprocessor and storage subsystem. The ring-based, four-book storage subsystem links 64 superscalar microprocessors together in this system. The verification process started at the unit level, which focused on the correctness of the microarchitecture, and then proceeded to the element level to verify the architectural correctness of the microprocessor and storage subsystem. After successfully completing element stress testing, the components were combined and verified at the system level. Since the methods used at system-level verification were much the same as the ones used on the CMOS-based IBM S/390® Parallel Enterprise Server G4, the focus of this paper is on the work done at the unit and element levels.

Functional verification of the IBM zSeries eServer z900 system

This paper presents an overview on how the zSeries eServer z900 system has been functionally verified. It describes the hierarchical structure of verification, starting with designer simulation, unit-simulation, chip-simulation up to system simulation. For each step, the tools, methods and goals of verification are described. It also presents a description of the IT environment used at the different levels of verification, especially of dedicated simulation hardware like accelerator and emulator machines used for system simulation and hardware/software co-verification.