Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc. Selects CoWare Platform Architect for Next Generation SoC Designs

CoWare's Platform-Driven ESL Design Solution Provides Optimal Architecture for Kawasaki's ASIC Customers and Dramatically Shortens Turnaround Time

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Aug. 21, 2006--CoWare® Inc., the leading supplier of platform-driven electronic system-level (ESL) design software and services, announced that Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc. (K-Micro), Chiba, Japan, selected CoWare Platform Architect and services for the design of its next generation multi-function printer system-on-chip (SoC). CoWare Platform Architect will provide K-Micro with the optimal architecture for its ASIC customers, which will dramatically reduce turnaround time. All K-Micro's customers have individual requirements and require unique ASICs. The flexibility of the tools will enable K-Micro to provide optimized solutions beyond multi-function printers as well, and K-Micro will expand this technology into the communications equipment industry. A platform-based design technology will enable K-Micro to provide the optimal ASIC architecture for each customer design. This platform-based design methodology will give K-Micro and their customers an important competitive advantage. Prior to Platform Architect, K-Micro had been using a traditional architecture exploration methodology that required a great deal of engineering time, yet did not produce an optimal architecture.

"We needed to create an efficient methodology to optimize the architecture for our SoC ASICs based on the MIPS processor and Sonics interconnects," said Kyoichi Kissei, executive vice-president, Kawasaki Microelectronics, Ltd. "CoWare Platform Architect was the only ESL design tool on the market that provided SystemC models for those interconnects in addition to an extremely powerful analysis capability. It was an easy decision to go with CoWare."

"K-Micro and our other customers are very interested in our new Virtual Platform ESL design solution for their new product designs because it will provide them the broadest system design solution on the market," said A.K. Kalekos, vice-president marketing and business development, CoWare. "CoWare is one of the only platform-driven ESL providers to use SystemC, which has become the industry standard for system design. In addition, CoWare is the only company with a complete platform-based ESL design solution for hardware architecture exploration and validation, and device software development, which is very attractive to a growing number of systems companies faced with increasingly complex designs."

About CoWare

CoWare is the leading supplier of platform-driven electronic system-level (ESL) design software and services. CoWare offers a comprehensive set of ESL tools that enable electronics companies to "differentiate by design" through the creation of system IP including embedded processors, on-chip buses, and DSP algorithms; the architecture of optimized SoC platforms; hardware/software co-design; and virtual platforms for device software development. The company's solutions are based on open industry standards including SystemC. CoWare's customers are major systems, semiconductor, and IP companies in the market where consumer electronics, computing, and communications converge. CoWare's corporate investors include ARM (LSE:ARM - News; Nasdaq:ARMHY - News), Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - News), STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM - News), and Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE - News). CoWare is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and has offices around the world. For more information about CoWare and its products and services visit http://www.coware.com.