Cadence NC-VHDL is Awarded Si2 Certification; Industry's First VHDL Simulator to Pass Si2 Labs Tests.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2000

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN), the world's leading supplier of electronic design products and services, today announced that Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) Labs has certified the Cadence(R) NC-VHDL simulator as the first VHDL simulator to receive the Library Tested and Approved qualification seal from Si2 Labs.

Si2 Labs, which was established by the ASIC Council in 1995, tests electronic design automation (EDA) tools against libraries and test suites supplied by ASIC Council companies. The ASIC Council is currently comprised of ten companies including Fujitsu, IBM, LSI Logic, Lucent, Motorola, NEC, Philips, ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.

Si2's award to NC-VHDL represents the first VHDL certification in Si2 Labs. Cadence is the only company to have achieved this quality certification for both Verilog simulation, previously, and now for VHDL simulation.

"Si2 applauds Cadence for their efforts in becoming the first simulation vendor to receive the Si2 Labs qualification seal for VHDL simulation," said Andrew Graham, president of Si2. "We look forward to working with Cadence and other EDA companies in helping them to serve the needs of their customers by ensuring the quality of tools used in their flows."

The Cadence NC VHDL simulator offers designers a complete, high-performance VHDL simulation capability, from behavioral through VITAL. Upgrading to NC simulator, the Cadence leading, mixed-language simulator, gives a four times performance advantage over other mixed-language solutions for typical mixed-language designs. Designers not only benefit from the sign-off accuracy of Cadence's simulation technology, but also leverage the industry-leading performance and capacity inherent in NC-VHDL and NC simulator's native-compiled architecture.

"We are honored to have the only VHDL simulator to have passed Si2's qualification testing," said Rahul Razdan, vice president of design and verification products at Cadence. "In addition, it is especially gratifying that we are the only company that has received both Verilog(R) and VHDL qualification from Si2. The growth of mixed-language designs demands accuracy in both languages. This qualification is a key milestone for mixed-language simulation."

About Si2

Silicon Integration Initiative, Inc. (Si2) provides engineering consultation and services to industry-leading silicon, electronic systems, and EDA companies for synergistic multi-company efforts focused on improving productivity and costs in the design and production of integrated silicon systems. The organization represents more than 40 members throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

About Cadence

Cadence is the largest supplier of software products, methodology services, and design services used to accelerate and manage the design of semiconductors, computer systems, networking and telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, and a variety of other electronics-based products. With approximately 5,000 employees and 1999 annual revenue of $1.1 billion, Cadence has sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world. The Company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CDN. More information about the company, its products and services may be obtained from the World Wide Web at http://www.cadence.com.

Cadence, the Cadence logo, and Verilog are registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All others are properties of their holders.