Ansoft Announces Nexxim -- New Product Targets RF/Mixed-Signal IC and High-Performance Signal Integrity Applications.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 2004

Nexxim(TM), the Next State of the Art of Circuit Simulation,

Combines with Ansoft Designer(TM) to Provide Complete Solutions

for High-Frequency Circuit Design

Ansoft Corporation (Nasdaq:ANST) announces Nexxim(TM), a new product targeting the next generation of analog/mixed-signal applications, including high-performance RFCMOS, GaAs/SiGe RF ICs and gigabit computer and communication backplanes.

"Nexxim expands our product portfolio for circuit design and combined with Ansoft Designer increases Ansoft's addressable market threefold," said Nicholas Csendes, Ansoft's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The launch of Nexxim within a year of shipping Designer solidifies Ansoft's expansion from a successful electromagnetic tool vendor to a leading circuit design solutions provider."

Customer benchmarks solved to date include a 1.8GHz PLL (phase-locked loop) in 0.25 micron CMOS with over 2000 BSIM3 transistors, a complete RF/analog front-end for a Bluetooth(R) BiCMOS SOC with over 4000 active devices, a memory cell with over 13,000 BSIM3 transistors, an RF mixer analyzed with more than 1000 harmonics, and a 3 Gsps ADC (analog-to-digital converter) in 0.35 micron GaAs. Each benchmark has driven product development and has proven the added value of Nexxim over competing circuit simulation tools.

Dr. Mark Reichelt, Director of Nexxim R&D, said, "Leading researchers with a proven track record of creating circuit simulation software came together at Ansoft to develop sophisticated new algorithms and numerical techniques for Nexxim. I believe that Nexxim technology represents the next state of the art in circuit simulation in terms of accuracy, robustness, capacity and speed."

With a multitude of algorithmic innovations in transient and harmonic-balance analyses, Nexxim achieves unprecedented robust convergence and simulation speeds while improving accuracy and dynamic range. Nexxim addresses a major industry concern by running frequency- and time-domain analyses using the same circuit netlist and the same library models, thus guaranteeing consistent results from the two different domains. Designers of high-performance ICs and PCBs will no longer have to spend countless hours reconciling results from two different simulators each running from different netlists and different versions of device models.

Nexxim's integration with Ansoft Designer supports co-simulation with system and planar EM solvers. Combined with HFSS(TM), Ansoft's full-wave 3D electromagnetic solver, and Q3D Extractor(TM), Ansoft's quasi-static parasitic extractor, the toolset represents the most complete RF/AMS circuit design solution commercially available.

Nexxim advantages include:

-- Time- and frequency-domain circuit simulation with consistent

results across both analysis domains

-- Simulation accuracy and transistor-level detail without the

use of model approximations

-- Unmatched capacity and speed gains to handle the high

nonlinearities and large device counts characteristic of

today's RF/mixed-signal IC designs

-- Robust convergence for DC, transient and multi-tone harmonic

balance problems with large transistor counts

-- Dynamic parameterized link to HFSS and Q3D Extractor

-- Co-simulation with Ansoft Designer's Solver on Demand(TM)

planar EM and system simulators

-- Active and passive device model compatibility with industry

standards, such as HSpice(R)

-- Support of numerous frequency-dependent models, including

S-parameters, W-elements and distributed transmission-line

models

Availability

Ansoft will release Nexxim in the second quarter of calendar year 2004. The product will first ship on PCs running Windows(R) 2000 and XP followed by Sun Solaris(R) and Linux(R).

Note to Editors: To download a high-resolution image, go to ftp://ftp.ansoft.com/techsup/download/web/Nexxim_PR.zip.

About Ansoft

Ansoft is a leading developer of high-performance electronic design automation (EDA) software. Engineers use Ansoft software to design state-of-the-art electronic products, such as cellular phones, Internet-access devices, broadband networking components and systems, integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), automotive electronic systems and power electronics. Ansoft markets its products worldwide through its own direct sales force and has comprehensive customer-support and training offices throughout North America, Asia and Europe. For more information, please visit www.ansoft.com.