MUNICH -- Aug 4, 2026 -- The System on Module decision comes early in an embedded project, usually before there is much of a design to argue about, and it quietly sets the terms for everything that follows. The power budget comes out of it. So does the interface count, the shape of the carrier board, and the software stack the team will be living with for the next several years. By the time a schematic exists, most of the consequential choices have already been made.
Which is why it matters where that choice gets made. Variscite’s System on Module (SoM) portfolio is now available in two environments built for exactly that moment: the CELUS Design Platform, and the NXP Block Diagram Designer, which runs on CELUS. The first phase covers three modules, all on NXP i.MX silicon, with carrier board reference projects in development. In both environments, an engineer can pick a Variscite module and start building the system around it right away, instead of opening another tab to work out whether it fits.
Variscite Inside the NXP Design Environment Powered by CELUS
Start with NXP, because that relationship is the foundation of this. Variscite has designed around i.MX silicon for years and sits at Platinum level in NXP’s partner program, which puts it in line for early access to new processors. The two names have sat next to each other for a long time. What is new is not the relationship. It is the reach. Variscite’s portfolio now lives inside the environment where NXP’s own customers do their early design work.
That environment covers more than block diagrams. In the NXP Block Diagram Designer powered by CELUS, an engineer lays out the functional blocks of a system, gets parts proposed against those blocks, resolves a bill of materials, and exports the result to an EDA tool for layout. The whole early arc of a project sits in one place. With Variscite in that flow, building a system around one of its SoMs, adjusting it, and closing it out no longer means moving between a design tool, a vendor site, and a folder of datasheets.
There is a reason it works this way rather than as a catalog listing. NXP describes a CUBO as a ready-to-use digital representation of a part that goes past what a traditional datasheet carries, and that is the same underlying structure CELUS uses on its own platform. A part described that way is not a document someone has to read and interpret before they can use it. It is something the tool can work with and the engineer can build on directly. Written down, the difference sounds small. In practice it is the difference between evaluating a module and designing with one.
Working With a Variscite Module in a CELUS Project
On the CELUS platform the pattern is the same, with the engineer steering it more directly. Each supported Variscite module is represented as a CUBO, or Digital Datasheet in CELUS terms, carrying the module’s pin functions, supply requirements, and interface options. The platform therefore knows what the part needs, not just what it is called.
From there the work is short. Describe the target system in the CELUS Design Assistant, add the Variscite module, and the platform proposes the blocks that have to sit around it: power, connectors, and whichever interfaces the application calls for. What comes back is a reference schematic and a bill of materials. It is a structured starting point rather than a finished design, and it is meant to be taken further, which is why it moves into Altium Designer, KiCad, Siemens EDA, or Autodesk Fusion through the CELUS integrations for those tools. The detailed work still happens where it always did. What changes is how much of the groundwork is already in place when it starts.
For Variscite, the appeal is largely in what that takes out of a schedule.
“Time-to-market is a critical factor in any new project,” said Ofer Austerlitz, VP Business Development and Sales at Variscite. “Pairing Variscite’s leading NXP-based SoM solutions with CELUS’ design platform simplifies development and shortens the path from concept to a working prototype and successful mass production.”
The First Three Modules
The first phase covers three modules from Variscite’s core line, all built on NXP i.MX silicon and aimed at different points on the performance curve.
- VAR-SOM-MX93 sits at the efficient end, on the NXP i.MX 93, pairing a dual Cortex-A55 cluster running up to 1.7 GHz with a 250 MHz Cortex-M33 for real-time work and a 0.5 TOPS Arm Ethos-U65 microNPU. It uses Variscite’s 200-pin SO-DIMM VAR-SOM footprint, which suits cost-sensitive industrial and edge designs that still need inference on the device.
- VAR-SMARC-MX8M-PLUS covers the middle, on the NXP i.MX 8M Plus, with a quad Cortex-A53 cluster at 1.8 GHz, an 800 MHz Cortex-M7, an integrated NPU, and an ISP for camera work. It is the first module in Variscite’s SMARC family, which matters to teams standardizing on a carrier board interface across a product family.
- DART-MX95 reaches the top of the range, on the NXP i.MX 95, with up to six Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0 GHz, an 800 MHz Cortex-M7 and a 250 MHz Cortex-M33 as independent real-time cores, and a 2 TOPS eIQ Neutron NPU. It is built for multi-camera systems, real-time control running alongside application processing, and heavier edge AI workloads.
The three sit in different Pin2Pin families, and that is worth a sentence of its own. VAR-SOM is a 200-pin SO-DIMM edge connector. DART is a 55 by 30 mm module on three board-to-board connectors. SMARC is an 80 by 50 mm module on a 314-pin edge connector. Within a family, moving between performance tiers does not require redesigning the carrier board, subject to the pinmux options a given design uses.
That is Variscite’s central argument for its portfolio, and it only pays off if a team can weigh the tiers against each other while the architecture is still open. Reading across three datasheets is one way to do that. Having each module represented the same way inside a design environment, against the same block diagram, is another, and it puts the comparison in the place where the decision actually gets made.
Industrial automation, medical devices, and IoT are the main destinations, and the medical end of that list is not a throwaway claim. Variscite has manufactured in-house since 2003 and holds ISO 13485, ISO 9001, and ISO 27001 certification, covering medical-grade production, quality management, and information security. For teams who have to document their supply chain as part of getting a product approved, that carries as much weight as the silicon does. The same goes for longevity. A module that stays orderable for the life of the product is the difference between one design cycle and three.
More is on the way. Carrier board reference projects are in development, and further integration work is underway.
“By leveraging the CELUS Design Platform and our AI Design Assistant capabilities, we are ensuring a highly efficient and effective design journey,” said Tobias Pohl, CEO and Co-founder at CELUS. “Having a technology leader like Variscite on the platform and making their products accessible through ecosystem touchpoints like the NXP Block Diagram Designer gives engineers of all backgrounds the opportunity to design and build with best-in-class products.”
Where Component Adoption Happens
The wider pattern is that component decisions are migrating into the tools where designs actually get made, and it is becoming less important whose logo sits on the tool. An engineer working in NXP’s environment and an engineer working in the CELUS platform are reaching the same Variscite modules through the same underlying representation.
That is the point of the exercise. When a part is properly represented inside a design environment, evaluating it stops being a separate research task that has to finish before the real work starts, and becomes part of the real work. An engineer who is still deciding can commit to a module and keep going. Adoption happens where the design happens.
Open a project in the CELUS Design Platform and start designing with a Variscite module, or find the modules in the NXP Block Diagram Designer.
About Variscite
Variscite designs, develops, and manufactures Arm-based System on Modules, and has done so since 2003. Its portfolio spans entry-level to high-performance modules built on NXP i.MX 6, i.MX 8, and i.MX 9 silicon, organized into Pin2Pin families that let teams move between performance tiers without redesigning the carrier board. In-house production complies with ISO 13485, ISO 9001, and ISO 27001. More at variscite.com.
About CELUS
CELUS is a Munich-based technology company building an AI-powered platform for electronics design. Founded in 2018 by Tobias Pohl, Alexander Pohl, and André Alcalde at the Technical University of Munich, CELUS helps engineers move from an initial product idea to a structured hardware architecture, supporting component selection, reference schematics, and bills of materials compatible with established EDA environments. The company operates from Munich, Porto, and Austin, with a team spanning more than 30 countries, and works with semiconductor manufacturers and distributors including NXP, Würth Elektronik, and Siemens to connect engineers with component data during the design process. Learn more at celus.io.
