Synplicity's Market-Leading Programmable Logic Synthesis Solutions Support Altera's New Stratix Device Family.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2002

The Synplify Software Offers Architecture Specific Inferencing for the

DSP Blocks and TriMatrix(TM) Memory Structures in Altera's New

Stratix(TM) Device Family

Continuing its commitment to provide timely support for new programmable logic devices (PLDs), Synplicity, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNP), a leading supplier of software for the design and verification of semiconductors, today announced its market-leading programmable logic synthesis products are now optimized to support Altera Corporation's (Nasdaq: ALTR) Stratix(TM) device family. Through integration with Altera's Quartus(TM) II version 2.0 design software, the Synplify(R) and Synplify Pro(R) software enables the rapid design and development of the high-performance Stratix devices, which include dedicated DSP Blocks and TriMatrix(TM) Memory.

"Altera worked closely with Synplicity to develop an optimized flow to support our new Stratix device family," said Tim Southgate, vice president of software and tools marketing at Altera. "Our Stratix devices enable designers to reach the previously unobtainable performance and capacity goals they require to develop new types of applications for programmable logic. Together with Synplicity, we make it easier for designers to quickly reach aggressive performance and logic utilization goals, enabling them to bring leading-edge electronic products to market on time."

Synplicity leveraged its extensive expertise in mapping to DSP and memory structures in order to support the Stratix architecture. Synplicity's synthesis solutions infer Stratix TriMatrix memory and DSP blocks from the RTL code, and then perform direct mapping to the hardware, allowing designers to obtain better performance and area utilization for Stratix devices.

"Altera's Stratix devices provide a huge leap in innovation for PLD designers," said Andy Haines, vice president of marketing at Synplicity. "Our Synplify software's ability to extract and perform true timing-driven synthesis on multiplier/adder combinations makes it ideal for many applications including DSP. Using the Synplify software, our mutual customers are able to significantly benefit in the use of these high-performance devices while reducing debug time."

With today's announcement, Synplicity continues to provide support for Altera's programmable logic families. In addition to the new Stratix devices, other device families supported by the Synplify software include: APEX(TM) 20KE, APEX 20KC, APEX II, ARM(R)- based Excalibur(TM) embedded processor solutions, Mercury(TM), FLEX (R) 10KE, ACEX(TM) 1K, MAX(R) 3000A, MAX 7000A, and MAX 7000B families.

Pricing and Availability

Synplify and Synplify Pro software support for Altera's Stratix devices is available now. Pricing for the Synplify software starts at $9,000 (U.S.) and pricing for Synplify Pro software starts at $19,000 (U.S.). Current customers on maintenance will be upgraded at no additional cost.

About Stratix Devices

Stratix devices are based on a 1.5-V, 0.13 micron, all-layer copper SRAM process, with densities ranging from 10,570 to 114,140 logic elements (LEs) and up to 10 Mbits of RAM. Stratix devices offer up to 28 DSP blocks with up to 224 embedded multipliers, optimized for DSP applications that require high data processing. Stratix devices support various differential I/O electrical standards such as LVDS, LVPECL, PCML, and HyperTransport(TM), as well as high-speed interfaces, including UTOPIA IV, SPI-4 Phase 2, SFI-4, 10G Ethernet XSBI, RapidIO(TM), HyperTransport, and others. Stratix devices also offer a complete clock management solution with its hierarchical clock structure and up to 12 phase-locked loops (PLLs). More technical information about the Stratix device family is available at www.altera.com/stratix.

About Altera

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) is the world's pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property, and technical services, Altera provides high-value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide. More information is available at www.altera.com.

About Synplicity

Synplicity, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNP) is a leading provider of software products that enable the rapid and effective design and verification of semiconductors used in next-generation communications, computer, consumer and military/aerospace electronics systems. Recognizing the company's industry-leading position, Dataquest named Synplicity as the #1 provider of PLD synthesis tools in 2000 with 45 percent market share. Synplicity leverages its innovative logic synthesis, physical synthesis and verification software solutions to improve performance and shorten development time for complex programmable logic devices, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuits. The company's fast, easy-to-use products offer high quality of results, support industry-standard design languages (VHDL and Verilog) and run on popular platforms. As of December 31, 2001, Synplicity employed 266 people in its 20 facilities worldwide. Synplicity is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. For more information on Synplicity, visit http://www.synplicity.com.

Synplicity, Synplify and Synplify Pro are registered trademarks of Synplicity, Inc. All other brands or products are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners.