Distinguished IC Design and CAE Experts Launch HDAC, Inc.; New EDA Company to Provide the Next Generation Tools for Design & Verification of Complex ICs and IP Blocks.

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 1999--Two distinguished researchers in integrated circuit (IC) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) software design announced the formal launch of HDAC, Inc., a new electronic design automation (EDA) company focusing on design and verification of complex ICs and digital intellectual property (IP).

HDAC was organized and incorporated in March of 1997 by Dr. Ramin Hojati, President. Dr. Mehran Massoumi, HDL Architect, joined the company in November of 1998. The EDA startup has received funding from a group of private investors.

"Verification is still the number one problem for circuit designers," said Ramin Hojati, President and CEO of HDAC.

"Design complexity continues to grow with the advent of smaller chip geometries and the need for systems on a chip, but today's verification tools are falling behind with respect to delivering fast functional verification that guarantees correct designs. Furthermore, current simulation verification products force designers to implement a methodology that requires numerous interactions between tools that slow the design process.

"Just running a test bench on today's large ASICs still takes too long and is too painful a process. HDAC overcomes the verification bottleneck with unique static verification technology that guarantees correctness with lightning fast speed, in a single easy-to-use environment. HDAC accelerates the verification process and fits with a synthesis-driven and IP reuse design methodology. We want to put static functional verification on every designer's desktop."

HDAC has developed an integrated software design tool that delivers static functional verification for designers of ASICs, IP cores and programmable parts. The company's future products will address the needs of chip designer including integration and system-level verification, and both pre- and post-synthesis analysis.

Founders Deliver Practical Design Solutions

HDAC's principals possess extensive background in both software tool development and the actual design of complex ICs, which serve as its foundation for strategic direction. Dr. Hojati has been a design verification consultant to Cisco, Compaq, IBM, SGI, and SUN Microsystems. Dr. Massoumi has worked for many years in the development of practical synthesis tools for FPGA designers.

Hojati obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science in 1992 and 1996, respectively, from the University of California, Berkeley. At UC Berkeley, he was the main driving force behind Berkeley's first generation verification system, HSIS. Before that, he was the author of the first BDD-based engine for Lucent Technologies FormalCheck. He obtained his B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 in math and computer science. From 1988 to 1990, he worked on layout and logic synthesis tools at Cadence Design Systems.

Massoumi obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona, respectively, in 1987 and 1994. From 1990 to 1997, he worked on FPGA logic synthesis tools at Viewlogic Systems. Subsequently, he joined the FPGA synthesis team at Synopsys until November 1998. Also, during his tenure at Viewlogic, he served as a faculty member in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Northern Arizona University.

"Our experience with verification and synthesis of actual designs, gave us the direction to develop a breakthrough verification tool. Designers are struggling with the current set of tools, and we are committed to creating tools that are practical for design and not just products of academia," said Hojati.

Support from EDA Industry Veterans

In addition to the strong background of its founders, HDAC has the support of the highly regarded EDA industry veterans on its board of directors and technical advisory board. Each has made significant contributions in areas of logic synthesis, simulation, and verification. Company directors include:

-- Manuel Correia: Executive VP & COO, CoWare

-- Dr. Warren Wong: Senior Director of R&D, Synopsys

-- Dr. James Wilcox: Professor, Haas School of Business, U.C.

Berkeley

Dr. Robert Brayton, Professor & Director of the SRC Center of Excellence for Design Sciences, U.C. Berkeley, serves on HDAC's technical advisory board.

Product Introduction

HDAC will make its first public showing as an exhibitor at 1999 International HDL Conference & Exhibition, in Santa Clara, California, the week of April 5th. Its first products will ship in June and will be on demonstration in booth 105. HDAC will also be showing at the Design Automation Conference in New Orleans in June.

About HDAC

HDAC, Inc. is a pioneer in the new market for static functional verification. The company delivers interactive analysis software for RTL designers, architects, and validation engineers that improves design quality, shortens design cycles, and eliminates unnecessary simulation. HDAC's products are easily incorporated into synthesis and IP reuse design flows.

HDAC can be reached at [phone], on the web at www.hdac.com or by email at [e-mail]