ProDesign to Provide ASIC Prototyping and Verification for Tensilica's Diamond Standard Processors

SANTA CLARA, CA, USA and MUNICH, GERMANY – September 26, 2006 – Tensilica, Inc. and ProDesign today announced that SOC (system-on-chip) designers can now use ProDesign’s CHIPit ASIC Rapid Prototyping and Emulation systems to verify designs using Tensilica’s popular Diamond Standard processor cores. CHIPit verification platforms provide verification and validation through the SOC and ASIC project life cycle.

“We are working with Tensilica because a growing number of design teams are using Tensilica’s Diamond Standard processor cores,” stated Heiko Mauersberger, ProDesign’s chief technology officer. “The Diamond Standard cores deliver the best mix of low power and high performance for applications ranging from simple 32-bit controllers to high-end DSPs and an audio processor.”

ProDesign’s CHIPit ASIC Prototyping line provides an integrated set of tools with debug capabilities that provide a dual solution for hardware and software verification and validation throughout the product life cycle. The FPGA-based ProDesign CHIPit platforms can handle capacities up to 21-million ASIC gates and run at system speeds up to 200 MHz.

“The modular CHIPit platforms give design engineers the speed and flexibility they need to validate algorithm performance, verify hardware implementation, and assist in hardware/software co-development and co-verification to reduce the verification time,” stated Larry Przywara, Tensilica’s director of strategic alliances.

Tensilica’s Diamond Standard processors are a set of six off-the-shelf synthesizable cores that range from area-efficient, low-power controllers to an audio processor and a high-performance DSP, all of which lead the industry in their respective categories both in lowest power and highest performance. The Diamond Standard processors are supported by an optimized set of Diamond Standard software tools and a wide range of industry infrastructure partners. They are available directly from Tensilica and through a growing list of ASIC and foundry partners.

About ProDesign

The privately held company was founded in 1981 and has over 80 employees, with various facilities for research, design, and sales in Germany, France, Middle East, Far East and the U.S. ProDesign has 25 years of experience as a service provider and manufacturer (EMS) in the electronics industry. The company's products and services include the CHIPit family of hardware-assisted verification tools, hardware and software development and image processing solutions. For more information, please visit www.uchipit.com or www.prodesign-europe.com.

About Tensilica

Tensilica offers the broadest line of controller, CPU and specialty DSP processors on the market today, in both an off-the-shelf format via the Diamond Standard Series cores and with full designer configurability with the Xtensa processor family. Tensilica’s low-power, benchmark proven processors have been designed into high-volume products at industry leaders in the digital consumer, networking and telecommunications markets. All Tensilica processor cores are complete with a matching software development tool environment, portfolio of system simulation models, and hardware implementation tool support. For more information on Tensilica's patented approach to the creation of application-specific building blocks for SOC design, visit www.tensilica.com.

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