Synplicity Donation to VSIA Drives IP Encryption Standardization

Synplicity Joins VSI Alliance; VSIA Creates Working Group to Further Standardization Efforts

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- October 20, 2006 -- Synplicity, Inc. (Nasdaq:SYNP), a leading supplier of software for the design and verification of semiconductors, and the VSI Alliance (VSIA), the leading IP standards body for the electronics industry, today announced that Synplicity has joined the VSIA and is donating its Open IP Encryption Methodology to the organization. The agreement provides VSIA with a license to use and modify Synplicity’s copyrighted Open IP Encryption specification for the purposes of creating an industry IP encryption standard.

“The adoption of an IP Encryption standard is essential to FPGA and SoC design productivity,” said Andy Haines, senior vice president of marketing at Synplicity. “The lack of a standard method of IP encryption impedes the development and deployment of IP, hurting designers and IP vendors and imposes a burden on EDA vendors who are left to deal with many different proprietary schemes. We are extremely pleased that VSIA has agreed to press forward with the standards process. We believe that this deal reinforces VSIA’s broad efforts to increase the effectiveness of IP through standardization.”

“This donation puts Synplicity at the forefront of the effort to create open standards for IP encryption,” said Kathy Werner, president of the VSIA. “Starting the standardization effort with an already established and recognized body of work will significantly cut down on the time spent developing the encryption standard.”

VSIA believes that an IP encryption standard based on the Synplicity specification will facilitate the creation and broad distribution of IP to the benefit of all users. Synplicity’s open IP Encryption methodology is transparent to end users, so it imposes no burdens or obstacles to using the encrypted IP. Once created, the encryption standard will ease development and integration costs throughout the design chain.

VSIA Creates IP Encryption Working Group

The VSIA has created the IP Encryption working group, a sub-group of the VSIA IP Protection Pillar. The group will soon announce its first meeting to be held within the next month. Companies who participate in the group will be able to help shape an end product that address the needs of their company while contributing to the definition of an industry standard. This initial meeting is open to members and non-members. The group will elect a chairperson and determine an initial roadmap identifying completion dates of each stage of development. If you would like to participate in the initial meeting, please sign up at http://www.vsia.org/pillars/IP_Encryption_Working_Group.htm. If you would like more information, contact Susan Cain, executive director at scain@vsi.org or Andy Haines, senior vice president of marketing at Synplicity at andyh@synplicity.com.

About Synplicity’s IP Encryption Initiative

Synplicity’s IP Encryption initiative provides EDA, IP and end-user communities a means to address the challenges designers face when using protected IP in their design flows, which are often made up of tools from several different EDA providers. The methodology supports tool interoperability and the underlying technology allows IP providers and EDA vendors to deliver solutions to their customers that provide the flexibility and security necessary for an industry standard to emerge. This IP encryption methodology, which is applicable to both FPGA and ASIC design flows, should significantly simplify the integration of IP for designers. Some EDA companies have attempted to offer their own proprietary encryption schemes, but they did not satisfy user needs because design flows typically consist of tools from more than one EDA vendor. The proposed non-proprietary methodology will allow IP vendors to create a single version of the encrypted data that can be used by tools from multiple EDA vendors. For more information on Synplicity’s IP Encryption Methodology visit http://www.synplicity.com/ip_encryption/index.html

About Synplicity

Synplicity, Inc. (Nasdaq:SYNP) is a leading supplier of innovative software solutions that enable the rapid and effective design of Programmable Logic Devices (FPGAs, PLDs and CPLDs) and are used in a wide range of communications, military/aerospace, consumer, semiconductor, computer, and other electronic systems markets. Synplicity’s tools provide outstanding performance, cost and time-to-market benefits by simplifying, improving and automating key design planning, logic synthesis, physical synthesis and verification functions for FPGA, FPGA-based ASIC prototyping and DSP designers. Synplicity is the number one supplier of FPGA synthesis solutions and has been rated #1 in customer satisfaction by FPGA designers since 2004 through the EE Times’ Annual FPGA EDA Branding Survey. Synplicity products support industry-standard design languages (VHDL and Verilog) and run on popular platforms. The company operates in over 20 facilities worldwide and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information visit http://www.synplicity.com.

About VSIA

The VSI Alliance (VSIA) is an open, international organization that includes representatives from all segments of the SoC industry: System houses, Semiconductor vendors, Electronic Design Automation (EDA) companies, and Intellectual Property (IP) providers. VSIA's mission is to dramatically enhance the productivity of the SoC design community by providing leading edge commercial and technical solutions and insight into the development, integration and reuse of IP. VSIA has wide industry participation with more than 70 member companies from around the world. Membership is open to any company with an interest in the development and promotion of business solutions and open standards used in the design of System-on-Chip. For more information, visit the VSIA web site at www.vsi.org, or e-mail to info@vsi.org.