Synopsys And Artisan Announce Collaboration To Validate Interoperable PCI Express Solution

Two Industry-Leading IP Providers Work Together to Accelerate Adoption of the New High-Speed PCI Express Architecture

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 15, 2003 --  Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS), the world leader in semiconductor design software, and Artisan Components(R), Inc., (Nasdaq:ARTI), a leading provider of physical intellectual property (IP), today announced a collaboration to develop a hardware platform that validates the interoperability of their PCI Express(TM) IP solutions. The platform conforms to the PIPE (PHY Interface for PCI Express) standard and helps to assure seamless operation and lower-risk implementation for chip developers. Synopsys and Artisan plan to develop a mother/daughterboard platform utilizing Synopsys' DesignWare(R) PCI Express Endpoint Controller Core and Artisan's PCI Express PHY IP. Synopsys and Artisan plan to present the solution at the PCI Express Interoperability Workshop in the fourth quarter of 2003.

"High-speed serial interface PHYs are complex circuits that must be verified both in silicon and in a system context," states Callan Carpenter, vice president and general manager, Artisan Analog/Mixed Signal Business Unit. "By working together to rigorously establish interoperability between our respective IP, Artisan and Synopsys are helping to reduce the integration risk that confronts every system-on-chip design."

"As the market leader in connectivity IP, Synopsys works with leading PHY suppliers like Artisan to validate interoperability," said Guri Stark, vice president of marketing, Synopsys SolutionsGroup. "This reduces the risk for designers and gives them the confidence to use our joint solutions in their designs, enabling them to bring products to market more quickly."

The platform demonstration will consist of two boards: a Synopsys-developed motherboard including FPGAs to house the Synopsys Endpoint Controller with driver software, and a daughterboard consisting of Artisan's PHY silicon. The interface between the two boards will adhere to industry-standard PIPE specifications. Synopsys' motherboard will include three critical protocol layers -- the logical PHY layer, the data link layer and the transaction layer. Artisan's daughterboard will include a complete serial link including mux/demux, 8b/10b encode/decode, elastic buffer and clock recovery circuitry that will be compliant with the PCI Express Base 1.0a Specification. Testability features for the Artisan daughterboard include built-in self-test (BIST), serial and parallel loopbacks, IDDQ (power down) and pseudo random bit sequence (PRBS).

The Synopsys DesignWare PCI Express Endpoint Controller Core features configurability from one to eight channels, low gate count, and timing closure to a 0.18-micron generic process. This architecture not only supports all of the features required for a PCI Express Endpoint solution, but it is also optimized for layout and performance and implements "enhanced" transaction layer features.

Artisan's PCI Express 2.5Gb/s PHY core provides high performance, flexibility, low power consumption, and extensive testability within a small physical size. The PCI Express is a modular design that allows for one to 32-lane configurations to enable a broad range of computing and communication applications, emphasizing performance, cost and scalability.

About Synopsys
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) is the world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading semiconductor design and verification platforms to the global electronics market, enabling the development of complex systems-on-chips (SoCs). Synopsys also provides intellectual property and design services to simplify the design process and accelerate time-to-market for its customers. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in more than 60 locations throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

About Artisan Components
Artisan Components, Inc. (Nasdaq:ARTI) is a leading provider of physical intellectual property (IP) components for the design and manufacture of complex system-on-a-chip integrated circuits. Artisan's products include embedded memory, standard cell, input/output, analog and mixed-signal components, which are designed to achieve the best combination of performance, density, power and yield for a given manufacturing process. Artisan has licensed its IP components to over 1,000 companies involved in integrated circuit design. Artisan is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. More information about Artisan Components, including free library access, can be found at www.artisan.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding the expected features of the jointly developed PCI Express platform and the expected date of demonstration of the solution. These statements are based on Synopsys' and Artisan's current expectations and beliefs. Actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these statements as a result of unforeseen difficulties in integrating products of the two companies and uncertainties attendant to any technology collaboration, as well other factors contained in Synopsys' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2003 and Artisan's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2003, each of which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Synopsys and Artisan disclaim any obligation to update or correct the information contained in this press release as a result of financial, business or any other developments occurring after the date of the release.

Information in this press release regarding Synopsys has been provided by Synopsys and information contained in this press release regarding Artisan has been provided by Artisan. Synopsys and DesignWare are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. Artisan and Artisan Components are registered trademarks of Artisan Components, Inc. PCI Express is a trademark of PCI-SIG. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Artisan Components