Brian Jackson Named Vice President of Business Development Hier Design; Experienced EDA Veteran Comes from Cadence's Sales, Support Organization.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2003

Hier Design Inc., headquartered here, today promoted Brian Jackson to the role of vice president of business development. He reports to Jackson Kreiter, Hier Design's chief executive officer and chairman, and has expanded responsibility for developing the sales channel in the United States. Previously, Brian Jackson was director of business development at Hier Design.

Hier Design, an electronic design automation (EDA) supplier delivering software for high-speed, high-complexity field programmable gate array (FGPA) designs, officially unveiled its corporate strategy yesterday will launch software in July 2003 to enable programmable devices to obsolete application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology for most standard products.

Says Kreiter: "In a short period of time, Brian has effectively managed customer and partner relationships for Hier Design. He's a tremendous asset to the team."

Formerly, Brian Jackson worked for Cadence Design Systems Inc. from 1990-2002 (NYSE: CDN) in increasing responsible positions. He started as a senior applications engineer, served as a marketing manager and, for the last five years, as an account manager responsible for sales of all Cadence products and consulting services. At Dazix Design Systems where he worked from 1987-1990, he was a senior applications engineer. He worked for Zuken America as an application engineer. He started his career as a printed circuit board designer at Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, N.Y.

Brian Jackson holds a degree in computer aided drafting technology from Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, N.Y.

About Hier Design

Founded in 2001, Hier Design Inc. is an electronic design automation (EDA) industry newcomer creating the next EDA beachhead by helping fuel the movement from application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to high-speed, high-complexity field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). It will launch software in July 2003 that will enable programmable devices to obsolete ASIC technology for most standard products. Hier Design has raised a total of $6.2 million in financing since it was founded in 2001 from ITU Ventures, Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NYSE: CDN), Innotech Corporation, Lanza Tech Ventures and private investors. Corporate headquarters is located at: 2350 Mission College Boulevard, Suite 850, Santa Clara, Calif. 95054. Telephone: [phone]. Facsimile: [phone]. Email: [e-mail]. More details can be found at the Hier Design website located at: http://www.hierdesign.com.

Note to local editors:

Jackson is a resident of Santa Clara, Calif., where he resides with his wife Suzanne (formerly Moore).