Aptix Selected by Japan's IPTC Corp. for Pilot Program

Program permits Japanese companies to try IP before buying

San Jose, Calif. - November 13, 2000 - Aptix Corporation today announced that IPTC Corp. of Japan has selected Aptix for an IP pilot program that will explore how electronics companies will evaluate and purchase IP in the twenty-first century. An Aptix System Explorer MP4CF with an Aptix web-enabled front-end, located at IPTC's Shin-Yokohama offices, will enable engineers from IPTC?s member companies to evaluate IP blocks and profile their performance in a target SoC environment.

Shojiro Mori, President and CEO of IPTC, said, "The Aptix system has the architecture required for accommodating the wide range of IP blocks that engineers need to evaluate, as well as integrate, into SoC designs. We plan to work closely with Aptix to deploy an IP evaluation solution in Japan."

Japan's leading electronic companies have funded IPTC CORP to explore the business, legal, and technical issues surrounding the trading of intellectual property. "Understanding how IP will perform in a target SoC environment is key for successful IP evaluation," said Leif Rosqvist, COO at Aptix. "The buyer needs a high performance flexible modeling environment, and the seller needs security and protection for his intellectual property. Aptix delivers on both counts."

During the pilot program, sample emulation-ready IP blocks will be stored in the secure repository of an Aptix web-enabled System Explorer. Authorized engineers can remotely select IP and remotely integrate them with some function in the target SoC environment at IPTC. The Aptix block based modeling platform makes this possible without taking possession of the IP or sharing internal or custom design blocks. "This solution satisfies both the customer and the IP vendor," said Mori.

About IPTC Corp.

IPTC is working to establish secure, fair, and efficient IP trading in Japan. To this end, IPTC will provide its members with a complete service for IP distribution--from IP evaluation down to post-purchase technical support. IPTC will provide infrastructure for IP marketing in cooperation with companies in the business of IP distribution. These efforts are required for the expansion of Japanese electronics industry. Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., and Nikkei BP Inc., established IPTC in May 2000 with a joint investment. Its office is located at 3-18-14, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, and Kanagawa, Japan. Telephone (045) 478-2323, Fax (045) 478-2329. Web at http://www.iptc.co.jp.

About Aptix Corporation

Aptix Corporation's products are used to verify system and system-on-chip designs prior to integrated circuit (IC) and board tape-out and fabrication. Aptix's products utilize the block-based verification methodology, which provides a mechanism to map and verify individual design blocks incrementally and in parallel with the design creation process. This methodology shortens the net prototype creation time of achieving real-world operation of the prototype to the few days required to map and verify the last RTL block designed. Debugging designs becomes simple because the mapping process is both under the user?s interactive control and follows the natural hierarchy of the design. This also makes tracing design problems back to the source netlist an intuitive process.

The company is privately held and is headquartered at 2880 North First Street, San Jose, California 95134. Telephone (408) 428-6200, Fax (408) 944-0646. Visit Aptix on the Web at http://www.aptix.com.

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