In this paper, we present the problem of storage bandwidth optimization (SB
O) in VLSI system realizations. Our goal is to minimize the required memory
bandwidth within the given cycle budget by adding ordering constraints to
the flow graph. This allows the subsequent memory allocation and assignment
tasks to come up with a cheaper memory architecture with less memories and
memory ports. The importance and the effect of SBO is shown on realistic e
xamples both in the video and asynchronous transfer-mode (ATM) domains. We
show that it is important to take into account which data is being accessed
in parallel, instead of only considering the number of simultaneous memory
accesses. Our problem formulation leads to the optimization of a conflict
(hyper) graph. For the target domain of ATM, only flat graphs without loops
have to be treated, For this subproblem, a prototype tool has been impleme
nted to demonstrate the feasibility of automating this important system des
ign step, An automatable technique for distributing the cycle budget over d
ifferent loops will be presented in a future paper.