Synopsys Awards 3rd Annual Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Award to Silicon Metrics.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Design Automation Conference 2003

ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 4, 2003

Synopsys, Inc., the world leader in integrated circuit (IC) design software, today presented Silicon Metrics with the third annual Tenzing Norgay electronic design automation (EDA) Interoperability Achievement Award. The award recognizes Silicon Metrics' efforts in providing outstanding technical interaction with a broad range of EDA tool providers in order to serve not only its own customers but also its partners' customers. Silicon Metrics, a characterization and modeling technology leader, was formally recognized today at the Synopsys Interoperability Breakfast taking place at the 40th Design Automation Conference (DAC).

"Because of our commitment to interoperability, Silicon Metrics has shared a wealth of expertise with our partners. In delivering nanometer characterization and modeling solutions for the popular design flows, we have worked closely with customers and partners on the feasibility and efficiency of proposed model format changes and on correlation studies," said Vess Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Silicon Metrics. "Silicon Metrics is truly honored to be receiving the Tenzing Norgay interoperability award."

The Tenzing Norgay interoperability achievement award was established to recognize EDA providers who collaborate on interoperable design flows that benefit the user community. The award is presented annually to an EDA company that has surpassed common levels of interoperability, has contributed to overall industry advancement, and has helped provide a new view of the future for EDA interoperability. Named for the crucial role that Sherpa Tenzing Norgay played in the first successful attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, the EDA Interoperability Achievement Award recognizes achievements that are critical to a designer's success.

Silicon Metrics has established itself as a characterization and modeling leader for standard cell, complex I/O, and embedded memory libraries. This high degree of interoperability is supported by two technical fundamentals. First, Silicon Metrics' characterization tools produce accurate timing, power and signal integrity models in the Liberty(TM) open library standard format that can be used broadly with tools across the industry. Second, Silicon Metrics' characterization tools are architected to support simulator independence, which allows customers to choose the circuit simulators they prefer. In addition, Silicon Metrics has collaborated closely with Synopsys in verifying and providing support for critical new nanometer-era features in Liberty, such as scalable polynomial delay model (SPDM), multi-voltage, noise and glitch analysis.

"Silicon Metrics provides guidance to its partners on optimizing simulation engines for performance when applied to the compute-intensive characterization task," said Rich Goldman, vice president, strategic market development at Synopsys, Inc. "Silicon Metrics' success demonstrates that interoperability is not only possible, but fundamental to designers' success. Silicon Metrics exemplifies the characteristics established for the Tenzing Norgay EDA Interoperability Award."

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) is the world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for integrated circuit (IC) design. The company delivers technology-leading IC design and verification platforms to the global electronics market, enabling the development of complex systems-on-chips (SoCs). Synopsys also provides intellectual property and design services to simplify the design process and accelerate time-to-market for its customers. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in more than 60 locations throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Liberty is a trademark of Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.