Silverback Systems Plans Deployment of Denali Blueprint

ESL Product Boosts Productivity of Silverback Chip Development Flow

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 3, 2005 -- Denali Software and Silverback Systems today announced plans to deploy Denali's Blueprint(TM) electronic system level (ESL) product in the chip design flow at Silverback.

Blueprint enables significant productivity gains by automating the generation and management of control registers, a pervasive design element in complex chips. Silverback Systems plans to have various engineering groups -- such as hardware, firmware and software engineers -- use Blueprint in the development of next generation of iSNAP® Storage Network Access Processor chips.

"Our goal is to accelerate the design and performance of computing, storage and data networking equipment through a comprehensive package of silicon, firmware, and drivers," says Ari Cohen, vice president of hardware engineering and operations at Silverback. "We are continually seeking opportunities to optimize our products, and enable rapid and cost effective deployment for our customers. Denali's Blueprint automates the management of on-chip control registers, which speeds design and streamlines communication between our hardware and software teams during chip development."

Blueprint is an ESL tool used by hardware and software engineers to automate the creation and management of control registers, and all the associated design views and documentation. From a single register description language (RDL) input, Blueprint generates various outputs for hardware design, software development, verification and documentation.

"Consistent specifications and accurate design and verification views are key to any chip design effort," adds Mark Gogolewski, Denali's chief technology officer (CTO). "With Blueprint, we are offering a pragmatic ESL solution that offers immediate productivity gains without requiring the customer to make significant changes in their normal development flow. As a customer of our Databahn(TM) IP products, we are familiar with the complexity of the Silverback Systems chip designs. It has developed an advanced chip design environment that has been proven on multiple successful products, and we are pleased to provide a product that will further contribute to their product success."

About Blueprint

Denali Blueprint is a third-generation software product and has been used successfully in numerous large system on chip (SoC) designs. Denali acquired the technology license for commercial product deployment. Design, verification, software and firmware engineers use Blueprint to automate the creation and management of control registers and all associated models, design views and documentation. From RDL input, Blueprint generates various outputs for hardware design, software development, verification and documentation.

For design, Blueprint produces synthesizable Verilog, SystemVerilog or VHDL code for control registers and also generates Open Verification Library (OVL) assertions that ensure the correct operation of the register and generated logic. For functional verification, Blueprint outputs models of the registers for use in C/C++, SystemC, OpenVERA, 'e', Verilog, and SystemVerilog. For software, Blueprint generates headers, classes with access methods and a complete Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) to enable software developers to be productive as soon as the architecture is defined and isolate them from low-level design changes.

Additionally, Blueprint generates test cases for pre- and post-silicon validation of the generated logic. For documentation, Blueprint outputs files compatible with user templates for Framemaker, MS-Word, HTML, XML or SGML based documentation. The Blueprint architecture leverages a well-defined object-oriented architecture that also enables design teams to customize and create new code generators for their particular applications.

About Silverback Systems

Silverback Systems, Inc., designs, develops and markets solutions for the converged, accelerated, reliable and secure IP networks market. In the center of these solutions is the iSNAP®, storage network acceleration processor family and the software, firmware and boards accompanying it. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Campbell, Calif., with offices in Rochester, Minn., and Netanya, Israel. Visit www.silverbacksystems.com for more information.

About Denali Software

Denali Software Inc. is the world's leading provider of Engineering Design Automation (EDA) tools and Intellectual Property (IP) solutions for chip interface design, integration and verification. Its Databahn(TM) IP products offer fully configurable controllers for Flash, DRAM, and hard disk drives. Dataplex(TM) is an integrated subsystem of Databahn IP cores that provides optimal dataflow from external memory and storage to system designs. Denali's PureSpec(TM) and MMAV(TM) verification IP support all complex interfaces, including DRAM, Flash, PCI Express, ASI, AMBA, USB, Ethernet, CE-ATA, and Serial ATA. Denali's Blueprint product is an ESL product for on-chip register design and management. More than 400 companies worldwide use Denali's tools, technology, and services to design and verify complex chip interfaces for communication, consumer, and computer products. For more information, visit Denali at http://www.denali.com, call 650-461-7200.