FPGA Synthesis Leader Offers VHDL Discovery Kit Based on Its Popular Galileo Design Environment; PC-based Kit Targets FPGA Designers Converting From Schematics to VHDL-based Design, Offers Migration Path to Exemplar's Galileo and Leonardo Design Environments.

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 1996--Exemplar Logic, the leading supplier of high-level design software for Windows and UNIX platforms, today announced that it is introducing a new synthesis tool kit, the VHDL Discovery Kit, targeted to Windows-based FPGA designers transitioning from schematics to VHDL-based design methodologies.

Exemplar's VHDL Discovery Kit is a full synthesis tool based on Exemplar's popular Galileo engine and includes Esperan's interactive multimedia VHDL training course. The VHDL Discovery Kit accepts VHDL as input and offers synthesis and optimization for a single FPGA library from Actel, Altera, Lucent Technologies or Xilinx.

Unlike other PC-based synthesis tools, Exemplar's VHDL Discovery Kit offers users a true migration path to Exemplar's Galileo or Leonardo design environments. VHDL Discovery Kit users learn synthesis and optimization techniques using Exemplar's Galileo engine, enabling them to be productive instantly when they move up to Exemplar's Galileo or Leonardo design environments.

The VHDL Discovery Kit is available now for $3495 in the U.S. and $4000 in international markets.

Robert Barker, Exemplar's vice-president of marketing, said, "According to Dataquest, there are 40,000 schematic users who represent 80% of the digital logic designers in the world. Our goal is to reduce the risk for these designers as they transition to hardware description languages and synthesis tools. Our VHDL Discovery Kit gives these users a robust and proven synthesis tool, VHDL training, and one FPGA library of their choice. With this kit, designers can learn VHDL synthesis at an affordable cost and immediately apply it to their own real-world designs." Barker continued, "To minimize our customers' investment risk, VHDL Discovery Kit users can upgrade and apply their purchase price to Galileo or Leonardo design environments any time during the first year."

Bob Beachler, director of strategic marketing at Altera said, "The migration path from Exemplar's VHDL Discovery Kit to Exemplar's more sophisticated design environments, combined with the company's proven ability to support the latest Altera device families gives Exemplar the most complete spectrum of PC-based synthesis solutions." Chuck Fox, vice-president of marketing at Xilinx noted, "Our customers are demanding high-quality, proven FPGA design tools that put them on a path that protects their investments in training and tool purchases. The VHDL Discovery Kit, based on Galileo's engine with a migration path towards more sophisticated design environments, will continue to insure Exemplar's leadership role in this market."

The Market:

According to Gary Smith, EDA analyst at Dataquest (San Jose, CA), "Dataquest market surveys show that there are about 40,000 schematic users who are also potential users of synthesis tools. PC-based, entry-level, full-function synthesis tools that include training, support popular FPGA families, and offer an upgrade path to more sophisticated design environments will play an important role in converting these schematic users to high-level design methodologies."

More About Exemplar's VHDL Discovery Kit:

The synthesis tool in Exemplar's VHDL Discovery Kit is based on Exemplar's popular and proven Galileo synthesis engine. It includes Exemplar's HDL Logic Explorer module for Windows with VHDL language support with architecture-specific logic optimization and the ModGen (TM) operator library. The kit also includes Esperan's Windows-based MasterClass CD-based, VHDL tutorial. The Esperan tutorial focuses on VHDL topics, including design definition, major VHDL constructs, rules for manipulating signals and data types, and mixing concurrent and sequential statements.

Exemplar's VHDL Discovery Kit features:

-VHDL language input, -Galileo-based synthesis engine, -PC-node locked license, -EDIF or XNF output for place and route, and -support for a single technology library.

VHDL Discovery Kit users can select a single library from the following:

Actel 1200XL Actel ACT2 and 3200DX Actel ACT3 Altera Flex 8000 Altera Flex 10000 Altera Max 7000/9000 Lucent Technologies/AT&T ORCA Xilinx 3000, 3100a Xilinx 4000, 4000e Xilinx 5200.

Exemplar's Leonardo and Galileo Design Environments:

Exemplar's Galileo provides an integrated high-level Design environment for simulation, synthesis, re-targeting and timing verification of FPGA, CPLD and ASIC designs. Exemplar's Leonardo, introduced at the Design Automation Conference in June this year, builds upon Exemplar Logic's popular Galileo Design Environment, adding hierarchical interactive synthesis, hierarchical schematic viewing, and user-friendly wizard-like features.

Pricing and Availability:

The VHDL Discovery Kit is available now for Windows-based environments at $3495 in the US and $4000 in international markets.

For more information, contact Exemplar Logic's Antares distribution channel by calling 503-643-5800 or sending e-mail to [e-mail], or visit the Exemplar Web site to access information about Exemplar's VHDL Discovery Kit at http://www.exemplar.com/

About Exemplar Logic:

Exemplar Logic, a subsidiary and Center of Expertise of Antares Corporation, pioneered applying logic synthesis techniques to the design of FPGAs and ASICs. The company develops and markets EDA software tools. Its products are sold worldwide through the Antares distribution channel. Exemplar's Galileo and Leonardo design environments implement a complete high-level design (HLD) solution for FPGA, CPLD and ASIC design, offering synthesis, simulation and timing analysis on Windows 95, Windows-NT, and UNIX (HP and Sun) platforms. WWW: http://www.exemplar.com/

Exemplar Logic is located at 815 Atlantic Ave., Suite 105, Alameda, CA 94501-2274, [phone], Fax: [phone]. -0-

Note to Editors: Leonardo, Galileo and MODGEN are trademarks of Exemplar Logic, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. Screen shots available upon request.

Acronyms: ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuit DAC: Design Automation Conference FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array HDL: Hardware Description Language HLD: High-Level Design VHDL: VHSIC (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit) Hardware

Description Language

CONTACT: Exemplar Logic

Ashena Massoumi, 510/337-3720

[e-mail]

or

Georgia Marszalek, 415/345-7477

[e-mail]