COMPASS TO PROVIDE DATAPATH COMPILER AND LIBRARIES FOR NEC OpenCAD ASIC DESIGN SYSTEM; Agreement Marks the First Time NEC Secures Third-Party Expertise for Compiled Datapath.

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 1995--COMPASS Design Automation, Inc., a leader in electronic design automation (EDA) tools and libraries, today announced at the 1995 Electronic Design Automation Technofair/Asia South Pacific Design Automation Conference, a technology agreement with NEC Corporation, the world's largest ASIC vendor. Under the terms of the agreement, COMPASS will provide its new high-density datapath library for NEC's 0.5 micron ASIC process design rules and link COMPASS' Datapath Compiler into the NEC OpenCAD ASIC Design System. This is the first datapath compiler to be supported within NEC OpenCAD.

"NEC's OpenCAD was designed to support both proprietary and third-party tools, making it easier for our ASIC customers to use NEC's leading-edge technology," said Hiro Hashimoto, NEC Corporation's System ASIC Division general manager. "Combining COMPASS' datapath expertise with our advanced 0.5 micron technology allows customers to bring their designs to market more quickly, and provides them with the complete methodology for designing systems on silicon."

Dieter Mezger, president of COMPASS, stated, "Having pioneered datapath compiler technology to provide our customers with silicon for the highest performance and density possible, we are pleased that COMPASS' Datapath Compiler has been selected by NEC and incorporated into its OpenCAD ASIC Design System. With NEC's world-class reputation, our joint customers now have the ability to compile datapath elements and utilize datapath libraries for the NEC 0.5 micron process."

NEC's OpenCAD integrates the most popular third-party EDA tools into the design flow and NEC's choice of COMPASS for this joint development, over other leading EDA library and tool providers, is notable because it is the first time that NEC has chosen to put datapath capabilities in a third-party environment.

"NEC wanted to offer its customers a mature datapath technology," said Hashimoto. "COMPASS' 13 years of experience in the compiler market is reflected in its outstanding tools, giving our customers the capabilities they require."

This is yet another step forward in COMPASS and NEC's long-time working relationship. Most recently, COMPASS and NEC worked together in the joint development of a 0.35 micron, standard-cell library which included memory compilers, datapath, and I/O pads, and was used in the first silicon success of Silicon Graphics Inc.'s high-performance graphics project.

COMPASS Passport Datapath Libraries and Compiler

The COMPASS datapath library that was designed for NEC's 0.5 micron design rules is based on technology from COMPASS' Passport datapath libraries. Passport datapath libraries consist of one hundred functions including multipliers, register files, latches, flops, and gates and contain a wide selection of high-level functional elements. These include an array of high-performance elements for DSP and compute-intensive applications, as well as layout, timing models, schematic symbols and footprints.

The Datapath Compiler from COMPASS, that will be linked into the NEC OpenCAD ASIC Design System, generates dense repeating structures of bit-slice logic by driving the datapath libraries to achieve optimal density and uniform high performance across a multi-bit bus. This assures consistent timing across each bit. The Datapath Compiler achieves its submicron performance and density targets using unique datapath floorplanning features including automatic placement and ordering of functions; power-bus sizing and strapping; and Bit-Swizzles, which provide a general mechanism for arbitrary wiring between busses in a datapath, enabling bits or groups of bits to be shifted, swapped or merged. The Datapath Compiler for OpenCAD currently produces Verilog timing models of the compiled circuits and can also generate a standard cell implementation of the design to be assembled with standard place and route tools; VITAL-compliant VHDL models are planned for subsequent releases.

Together, the high-density Datapath Compiler and libraries provide an ideal solution for CPU datapath and signal processing applications, such as those found in audio, video, communications and microcontroller-based systems and that require many multi-bit arithmetic operations.

NEC OpenCAD ASIC Design System

NEC's OpenCAD ASIC Design System is a design solution for developing deep submicron ASICs. A unified design environment, NEC's OpenCAD provides top-down and timing-driven design approaches, supporting logic synthesis, simulation, floorplanning, place and route, and physical design verification. Features include a design system for advanced ASIC technologies that fully support libraries, including megafunctions and compiled RAM/ROM blocks.

COMPASS' Datapath Compiler and libraries are expected to be integrated into NEC's OpenCAD in 4Q95. COMPASS' Datapath Compiler will initially support NEC's 0.5 micron CB-C8VX/VM ASIC family which uses a titanium silicide manufacturing process for dense core designs. Looking forward to the next generation, NEC plans to extend COMPASS' Datapath support for a 0.35 micron cell-based family, which is expected to be added in 1Q96.

COMPASS first introduced its Passport libraries in 1994. Passport libraries are based on a set of physical design rules that are compatible with many of the world's submicron CMOS process technologies and foundries. Customers can choose libraries that are optimized for density or speed; the design rule set has been optimized by COMPASS process experts and its foundry partners. The Passport libraries offer designers an immediate, cost-effective solution for implementation of submicron integrated circuits.

COMPASS, the world leader in library development, delivers standard-cell and gate array physical and logical libraries to both foundries and to customers who purchase their own libraries.

NEC Corporation is a world leader in communications, computers and electronic devices. NEC was founded in 1899 to manufacture telephone sets and switching equipment. Having developed a well-balanced range of products, backed by fully integrated technical capabilities, the company is now one of the world's foremost electronic manufacturers. The entire NEC group includes 209 associated companies, with 133 located in Japan and 76 overseas, and a total of 189,000 employees worldwide.

COMPASS Design Automation is a leading provider of EDA tools and libraries for designing deep submicron application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and application-specific standard products (ASSPs). The company supplies a complete set of tools for both silicon implementation as well as front-end design and provides foundry flexible Passport and custom ASIC libraries, memory and datapath compilers, and library development tools. -0-

Note to Editors: Passport, Datapath Compiler and Bit-Swizzle are trademarks of COMPASS Design Automation, Inc. OpenCAD is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation.

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