Hardware-assisted verification and prototyping has become a mandatory requirement to allow design teams to gain confidence that a chip tapeout can be initiated. The choice of the right hardware-accelerated engine is driven by its productivity, predictability, and use-model versatility, all impacting the key concern of users how to remove bugs. The Cadence Palladium XP Platform allows design teams to get to the point at which they are confident enough to tapeout much faster, often shaving off two to four months off development cycles.