CAST Partners with S2C for IP Distribution in China

S2C Provides Secure FPGA-Based Platform and Rapid Prototyping Environment for CAST H.264 and Other Key IP

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. -- March 15, 2007 -- Semiconductor intellectual property (IP) provider CAST, Inc. today announced a new distribution partnership in China with S2C Inc., a leading provider of innovative FPGA- based ESL (electronic system level) and SoC (system on chip) prototyping solutions.

S2C will provide CAST customers in China with a secure evaluation platform for IP reference designs using S2C's innovative FPGA-based ESL products. The CAST H.264 encoder core reference design is already available on the S2C TAI Logic Module(TM), a scalable rapid FPGA prototyping module. S2C plans to make more CAST IP available in the future.

"China has been underserved by IP suppliers, but together we and S2C are ready," said Hal Barbour, president of CAST. "We selected S2C as a partner because they are already successful serving an impressive customer base in China, and their technology gives potential customers a secure platform with which they can readily evaluate our IP."

"The use of IP in China is growing fast, with over 700 companies designing ICs in China in 2006. The key to success for these SoC projects is often the ability to acquire the right IP at the right time and at the right price," said Toshio Nakama, CEO of S2C. "CAST has one of the most comprehensive and well-tested IP lines in the industry. By partnering with them, we are now able to offer a broad library of IP that can be easily and securely verified and integrated into customers' SoCs on S2C's FPGA-based ESL products. Consequently, our customers can shorten their IP selection and integration time by as much as three months."

S2C is offering ready-to-use evaluation kits for key CAST IP cores. Most kits include CAST IP in FPGA binary format, a Dual Virtex-4 TAI Logic Module with two FPGAs, and accessory modules that provide IO interfaces for the IP. The CAST IP is pre-compiled into TAI IP(TM), a plug-and-play FPGA-based IP format developed by S2C, and can only be downloaded to the targeted TAI Logic Module. IP users can then use S2C's TAI Player(TM), a software application that automates design compilation and facilitates debugging, to easily map other user designs to TAI Logic Module that interface to the CAST IP in TAI IP format. In a matter of days, IP users can verify the functionality and performance of the CAST IP with their own designs at near real-time speed on FPGA.

The CAST line of IP includes 8051 and 32-bit APS processors, PCI Express and other interfaces, networking, communication, multimedia, encryption, and other popular functions, replacement parts, and multi-core SoC kernels and platforms. Most are already proven in customer designs, but S2C's rapid prototyping technology will offer potential purchasers the opportunity to evaluate cores in their own system designs.

About S2C

S2C Inc. develops and provides FPGA-based electronic system level (ESL) and advanced system-on-chip (SoC) prototyping solutions that accelerate and simplify the integration of embedded systems into chips. S2C products, using innovative TAI IP technology, let designers easily and securely access IP in FPGA-based formats to quickly assemble SoC prototypes on FPGA and start software development immediately. The company is based in San Jose, California and has offices in Shanghai and Beijing, China. For additional information, please visit http://www.s2cinc.com.

About CAST, Inc.

CAST provides over 100 popular and standards-based IP cores for ASICs and FPGAs. Privately owned and operating since 1993, CAST has established a reputation for high-quality IP products, simple licensing, and responsive technical support. The company is headquartered near New York City, partners with IP developers around the world, and works with select sales consultants and distributors throughout Europe and Asia. Visit http://www.cast-inc.com for more information.