Cadence Announces Support for Industry-Standard OpenAccess 2.2 Database; OpenAccess 2.2 Enables a Single Database Solution Across All Electronic Design Domains.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN) (Nasdaq:CDN) today announced support of the industry-standard OpenAccess 2.2 as a unified database for its IC implementation platforms and design-for-manufacturing (DFM) solutions. Building on its current support for OpenAccess 2.0, Cadence's adoption of OpenAccess 2.2 will further improve the efficiency of design-data exchange and enhance customers' ability to tightly integrate internal applications with Cadence products into a seamless flow.

The Cadence platforms and products for which OpenAccess 2.2 support will be offered include the Encounter(R) digital IC design and the Virtuoso(R) custom design platforms, along with DFM and Allegro Package Designer for IC package design products. The OA 2.2 supported software releases for these platforms and products are available now and Cadence is working with select customers to support their adoption.

"The Cadence Virtuoso platform is our preferred environment for SoC chip integration and finishing of mixed-signal designs," said Philippe Magarshack, group vice president of FTM -- Central CAD & Design Solutions at STMicroelectronics. "We've been very impressed with the ease of data exchange enabled through support of OpenAccess by both the Virtuoso and the Encounter platforms used in our mixed-signal design flow, and we intend to deploy the OpenAccess-based chip-integration flow for our 65-nanometer process designs going into tapeout later this year."

"OpenAccess is our database infrastructure of choice," said Jim Miller Jr., senior vice president of development at Cadence. "Going forward, all new IC Implementation product developments will leverage OpenAccess, specifically our Virtuoso custom design platform, where we are leveraging the expanded data model to build new features and capabilities on top of OA."

"Cadence, as the founding member of the OpenAccess Coalition and the original developer and contributor of the technology, is fully committed to open collaboration," said Jan Willis, senior vice president of Industry Alliances at Cadence. "OpenAccess continues to be the only viable database choice to support mixed-signal chips or silicon-package co-design in one database. Our continued investment in the OpenAccess Coalition, the OpenAccess technology and its subsequent adoption and support within our design platforms and product lines is our way of delivering on our commitment to customers' success and improved interoperability."

About Cadence

Cadence enables global electronic-design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software and hardware, methodologies, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, printed-circuit boards and systems used in consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. Cadence reported 2004 revenues of approximately $1.2 billion, and has approximately 5,000 employees. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.

About OpenAccess Initiative

The OpenAccess Coalition is a community-driven initiative formed to enable the creation of tightly integrated flows involving best-in-class commercial and proprietary tools and intellectual property (IP), necessary to support design of today's complex chips. This is done through an open standard data access interface (API) and reference database implementation supporting that API. The OpenAccess Coalition operates under the governance and bylaws of Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2), a non-for-profit standards organization.

Cadence and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks, and Virtuoso, Encounter and Allegro are trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.