Cadence Releases TestBuilder 1.0; C++ Testbench Class Library Becoming the Open Source Foundation for Verification.

Business/Technology Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2001

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CDN), the world's leading supplier of electronic design products and services, announced the release of TestBuilder 1.0, a new version of its testbench C++ class library that now includes a rich library of event expressions and support for VHDL as well as Verilog. With these enhancements, TestBuilder 1.0 has extended C++ into a full-functioned verification language for production use.

"Our vision for TestBuilder was that it would become the open standard foundation for verification, and we are seeing clear evidence of that," said Rahul Razdan, corporate vice president and general manager of Systems and Functional Verification at Cadence(R). "Since its introduction in September 2000, www.testbuilder.net has had 165,000 hits from 4100 unique visitors, resulting in 1400 downloads of the TestBuilder C++ class library. When you consider that some of these downloads support design teams and others support global companies, it is clear that TestBuilder is already having a profound impact on the verification industry."

TestBuilder 1.0 provides testbench authoring capabilities and facilitates the development of random, constraint-driven self-checking tests. Because it is based on the standard C++ programming language, it benefits from an vast number of C++ tools (debuggers, UML code generators, code analyzers, system design tools, etc.). It is the first such tool to be available on an open source licensing model.

"TestBuilder has the functionality necessary for future verification environments to keep pace with the increasing size and complexity of ICs," said Mike O'Reilly, group marketing director for Advanced Verification Products at Cadence. "Due to the power of C++ and the open source community, it will make proprietary verification languages obsolete."

"We recently completed a competitive evaluation of TestBuilder against other leading test bench development environments and we're extremely impressed with its robustness and flexibility," said Canon Inc.'s Hiroshi Hosokawa, SoC Department, SoC Design Center. "We are very interested in TestBuilder's C++ coding style since most of our engineers are very familiar with this standard language. We expect TestBuilder to positively evolve since it's in the open source community, and we are confident it can handle our future design challenges."

Cadence offers free and open access to its TestBuilder C++ class library. It is available for download at www.testbuilder.net. Also available at the site are user and reference manuals, and discussion guide. Cadence also offers a one-day class on writing tests and a three-day class on writing transaction verification modules (TVMs).

About Cadence

Cadence is the largest supplier of electronic design automation 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 5,400 employees and 2000 revenues of approximately $1.3 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 www.cadence.com.

Note to Editors: Cadence and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.