ATI Research Silicon Valley Standardizes On Aristo's Block-Based Design Planning Tool for Processor Design.

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 1999--

Aristo Technology, Inc. today announced that ATI Research Silicon Valley, Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) will standardize on the Aristo design planning tool, IC Wizard, for its block-based processor design flow, replacing internally developed design planning tools.

ATI Research is currently developing next-generation system-on-a-chip (SOC) technology, a highly integrated product that encompasses graphics, system logic, and processor blocks on a single chip. These chips will be incorporated into Internet-connected digital appliances, including low-cost personal computers, set-top boxes, and Web companions.

ATI Research is the third Aristo customer to be announced within the last four weeks. Aristo has begun shipping to ATI Research, and the design house expects that it will complete conversion from internal tools to IC Wizard by January 2000.

The decision by ATI Research to incorporate IC Wizard into its design flow is significant in that the company had already adopted a block-based approach to design planning, at a time when commercial block-based tools were not available. Its internally developed block-based tools - which are tuned for very high-performance, high-complexity SOC design - had provided the company's design team with a higher level of abstraction with which to control and accelerate timing convergence. ATI Research had determined that this level of abstraction was essential to meet its time-to-market requirements.

Once commercial block-based design planning tools were announced this year, ATI Research decided to replace its internal tools, so it could reallocate its internal engineering resources to design rather than to tool development and support. Of those tools evaluated, IC Wizard fulfilled the company's requirements most comprehensively.

Michael Klein, director of VLSI design at ATI Research, said, "We're very pleased to be working with Aristo on this conversion to IC Wizard for our integrated SOC design flow. Our evaluation was rigorous, especially because we had performance expectations set by our internal tools that the design planner would provide an accurate picture of critical tradeoffs early in the design cycle."

Simon Bloch, president and CEO of Aristo, said, "We're extremely gratified to see that leading processor and SOC developers such as ATI Research are adopting block-based design methodologies as the most effective solution for timing convergence issues, and now recognize the inherent value of commercial tools such as IC Wizard to automate their block-based design processes. We've long believed that raising the level of abstraction from gate level to block level was inevitable, and this formed the basis of Aristo's inception."

Bloch continued, "Multi-million gate, block-laden, complex IC's running at 150 MHz and above, are slipping their schedules or even suffering cancellation. Why? Simply put, gate-based planning tools alone can't handle between-the-block issues once there are more than a dozen or so complex IP cores. When combined with next-generation area, speed, and power specifications, the need for automated block-based design planning and assembly tools is obvious."

About IC Wizard

IC Wizard's design planning and assembly tools accelerate design convergence and increase design productivity through a highly automated block-based, or "divide and conquer," approach. IC Wizard automatically generates multiple design plan alternatives that meet constraints for timing, area, routability, and power in days as compared to the months it typically takes using traditional methodologies. The tool can be used during the architectural, RTL, structural, and physical design stages, and plugs into existing design flows, so customers can use it for their immediate design needs and preserve their investment in existing tools.

About ATI Research Silicon Valley

ATI Research Silicon Valley, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ATI Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATYT; TSE: ATY.TO), develops shared memory architecture and system-on-a-chip solutions for use in Internet-connected digital appliances, including low cost PCs, set-top boxes, and consumer electronics products.

About Aristo

Aristo Technology, Inc. develops and markets automated block-based design planning and assembly tools for complex ICs and systems-on-a-chip (SOCs). The company's IC Wizard products are targeted to leading-edge consumer, computer, and communications products that perform complex or performance-sensitive operations, and which employ large numbers of physical blocks and utilize semiconductor processes of 0.25 micron and below. Aristo is a partner in the Cadence Design Systems' (NYSE: CDN - news) Alanza Connections and Synopsys' (NASDAQ: SNPS - news) in-Sync programs. Aristo is privately held, funded by USVP, ITV, LVP and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC news). For more information about Aristo, please visit our Web site at http://www.aristotech.com/.

IC Wizard is a trademark of Aristo Technology, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Editors' note: Please see Aristo press releases, November 15, 1999: "Aristo and ATI partner on Block-Based Methodology for Graphics Chip Design" and December 8, 1999: "Aristo Signs Second Graphics Design Company, GigaPixel Adopts IC Wizard for Block-Based Design."