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Altium Chooses Verific's HDL Component Software for Verilog Support to Nexar; Verific HDL Component Software Enhance FPGA Digital Design System

ALAMEDA, Calif. & SYDNEY, Australia --(Business Wire)-- April 19, 2005 -- Verific Design Automation and Altium Limited, a leading developer of Windows-based electronics design software, announced that Altium is using Verific Design Automation's hardware description language (HDL) Component Software in Nexar, the industry's first comprehensive, vendor-independent solution for embedded system-level design on an FPGA-platform.

Verific's HDL Component Software includes C++ source code-based parsers, analyzers and elaborators for Verilog and VHDL that are tightly integrated with Nexar.

Altium recently announced the expansion of HDL capabilities of Nexar with the introduction of support for Verilog through a license agreement with Verific to use its HDL Component Software (refer to Altium's November 9, 2004, press release). Designers using Nexar now have complete freedom in the choice of capture language. They can use any combination of block diagram, VHDL and Verilog to capture circuit hardware for FPGA implementation.

Using Nexar, designers require little or no experience using HDLs or register transfer level (RTL) source code in order to put systems onto an FPGA. Instead, Nexar enables designers to use familiar, board-level design methodologies to interactively design and implement a complete embedded system inside an FPGA, making the potential of FPGA-based embedded systems design accessible to all engineers.

Says Nick Martin, Altium's founder and joint CEO: "We felt that it was crucial to provide strong support for Verilog within Nexar. Rather than developing our own parsers and analyzers, we found that Verific's well-engineered and reliable HDL Component Software was the right fit for our needs. We can focus on other aspects of Nexar, and strengthen its position as the universal design system of choice for FPGA-based systems development."

"Altium is breaking new ground for embedding systems on FPGAs and it gives us great pleasure to be able to help make this happen," adds Michiel Ligthart, Verific's chief operating officer.

About Altium

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) is a global developer and supplier of electronics design software for the Microsoft Windows environment. Founded in 1985, Altium released the world's first Microsoft Windows-based printed circuit board design tool in 1991 and continues to provide advanced, easy-to-use and affordable software design tools to electronics engineers, designers, and developers worldwide. Altium's products offer tailored solutions covering a range of hardware and software design processes including the Nexar, Protel, P-CAD and TASKING brands. Altium is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and has sales and support offices in Australia, the United States, Japan, Europe and China. More information is available at www.altium.com.

About Verific Design Automation

Verific Design Automation was founded in 1999 by electronic design automation (EDA) industry veteran Rob Dekker. It develops and sells C++ source code-based SystemVerilog, Verilog and VHDL front ends -- parsers, analyzers and elaborators -- as well as a generic hierarchical netlist database for EDA applications. Verific's technology has been licensed in many applications, combined shipping more than 45,000 end-user copies. Corporate headquarters is located at: 1516 Oak Street, Suite 115, Alameda, Calif. 94501. Telephone: (510) 522-1555. Facsimile number: (510) 522-1553. Email: info@verific.com. Website: http://www.verific.com.

Altium, CAMtastic, CircuitStudio, Design Explorer, DXP, LiveDesign, NanoBoard, Nexar, nVisage, NanoTalk, P-CAD, Protel, Situs, TASKING, and Topological Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited or its subsidiaries. All other registered or unregistered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners, and no trademark rights to the same are claimed.

Verific Design Automation acknowledges trademarks or registered trademarks of other organizations for their respective products and services.

Chip foundry emphasizes power-saving functions achieved with 65-nm process

13.06.2005 - As yet the production lines of the Taiwanese chip foundry TSMC, which like its competitor UMC is among the country's largest private companies, are not churning out products with 65-nm structures. As of today, however, the libraries and macros required for chip developers to devise with their design systems semiconductor components with such filigree structure widths are available. Anzeige

Manufacturers of such design systems (such as Cadence, Synopsys or Mentor Graphics) have integrated the TSMC libraries into their software; a "Reference Flow 6.0" is to facilitate the smooth conversion of designs into functioning silicon components.

The great emphasis placed on the saving of electricity that results from this 65-nm process is conspicuous: It is well known that many 90-nanometer components suffer from very high leakage power, which in turn leads to cooling or rechargeable-battery running-time issues for devices equipped with them.

At the presentation of its 65-nm manufacturing technology the world's market leader in chips Intel, which aims to mass produce its first 65-nm processors as early as the end of 2005/beginning of 2006, highlighted numerous electricity-saving features. Whether everything will work as planned with the clock frequencies hoped for and the yields required, only day-to-day operations can tell. (Robert W. Smith)

ASUS Adopts Mentor Graphics Printed Circuit Board Tools; Expedition, DxDesigner and XtremePCB to Decrease PC Motherboard Design Times

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 2005--Mentor Graphics(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT), the market and technology leader in printed circuit board (PCB) design solutions, today announced the sale of the Expedition Series(R) PCB tools to ASUS, Taiwan's largest PC manufacturer and a leading provider of 3C (computers, communications, and consumer electronics) solutions. This sale includes Mentor's new product XtremePCB(TM), which allows designers to work simultaneously on the same design from anywhere in the world. Also included is Mentor's PCB design definition solution, DxDesigner(TM). Adoption of these technologies by ASUS will enable them to significantly reduce their design cycle times in the highly competitive PC motherboard industry.

"ASUS is striving to be number one in the areas of quality, speed, service, innovation, and cost-efficiency," stated Jason Cheng, VP of research and development, ASUS. "We feel that Mentor Graphics Expedition Series is the solution that will enable us to achieve that goal. In addition, it will allow ASUS to be even more efficient and to create a greater number of advanced designs faster and with better quality."

ASUS plans to use Expedition as a routing engine for their OEM partners, reducing push and shove times up to 30%, all without impacting the current flow. Most importantly, ASUS intends to use Expedition, Xtreme and DxDesigner exclusively for their OEM products.

With recent revenues reaching $7.7 billion in 2004, ASUS is the largest PC motherboard supplier in Asia. In 2004, ASUS shipped over 40 million motherboards, supplying 25% of the total number of desktop PCs sold. Time-to-market and optimized production costs are paramount in this industry, and the Expedition Series will enable ASUS to effectively design the most advanced products in today's highly competitive market.

"The sale of Expedition to ASUS further confirms Mentor Graphics' commitment to the Asian PC design market," stated Henry Potts, vice president and general manager of Mentor's Systems Design Division. "Expedition offers the most advanced technology in the world for the design of high-performance systems. With ASUS taking advantage of Mentor's superior product functionality, they can expect to see their design cycle times reduced significantly -- up to 40%."

About Expedition

The Expedition Series offers advanced functionality with ease-of-use for the creation of today's most complex PCB designs. The Expedition Series features the industry's best place and route environment, powered by AutoActive(R) technology and ideal for high-speed, complex and advanced technology boards. For more information on the Expedition Series, please visit: http://www.mentor.com/products/pcb/expedition/.

About XtremePCB

XtremePCB is Mentor Graphics Corporation's state-of-the-art technology that allows multiple members of a PCB design team to work simultaneously on a design from a single database, whether they are in the same office or dispersed all over the world. It addresses the layout portion of the design flow, allowing electronic companies to significantly reduce their design cycle times, to meet today's accelerated time-to-market demands.

About DxDesigner

DxDesigner is Mentor Graphics' tool that provides a complete solution for design creation, definition, and reuse. It provides everything needed for circuit design and simulation, component selection, library management, signal integrity planning, project management and team-based design.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world's most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of over $700 million and employs approximately 3,850 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

About ASUS

ASUS, a technology-oriented company blessed with one of the world's top R&D teams, is well known for high-quality and innovative technology. As a leading provider of 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) total solutions, ASUS offers a complete product portfolio to compete in the new millennium. In 2004, ASUS shipped 40 million motherboards, which means one out of every 4 desktop PCs sold last year is based on ASUS motherboards. If we line them up side by side, the length will be longer than the distance from New York to San Francisco. ASUS' 2004 revenues reached US$7.7 billion, up 28% from the year before.

Mentor Graphics and AutoActive are registered trademarks and Expedition, DxDesigner and XtremePCB are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

Contacts

Mentor Graphics Corporation, Wilsonville
Debra Layton, 720-494-1043
debra_layton@mentor.com
Ry Schwark, 503-685-1660
ry_schwark@mentor.com

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