Business: Synopsys invests in prover technology

Investment highlights growth in worldwide railway control, command and signaling technology

Mountain View, Calif. and Stockholm (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design and manufacturing, and Prover Technology AB today announced that Synopsys has invested in Prover, which supplies signaling design automation solutions for engineering the safety critical systems that control trains, switches and signals. The funds will enable Prover toaccelerate its research and development efforts and expand its operations in Europe, North America and Asia.

A key part of a modern railway engineering process is signaling design automation, which uses formal verification, a safety analysis method based on mathematical proof. Formal verification is strongly recommended by safety standards organizations such as CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization), and several leading operators demand it from their suppliers. The reason: formal verification increases safety and quality, and provides more efficient processes for otherwise costly and time- consuming safety testing. It has proven to be a valuable solution for the operator of the Paris metro, which has one of the most complex railway networks in the world.

"RATP (Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) and Prover have been working closely together since 2004," said Pierre Chartier, safety director for RATP. "The collaboration has been focused on formal verification of interlocking and CBTC (communication-based train control) systems. By using formal techniques, we hope to reduce costs while maintaining the highest possible level of quality. Prover's experience in the field has made them a valuable partner."

"The growth of signaling design automation in railway systems plays a critical role in enhancing safety and increasing efficiencies in train throughput and cost reduction," said Randy Tinsley, vice president, Strategy & Corporate Development at Synopsys. "Our investment in Prover allows Synopsys to promote the application of technologies traditionally used for designing integrated circuits in different industries."

Having established a broad customer base, Prover's technology solution is well positioned to become the industry standard for specification and automated engineering of interlocking systems. As more attention is being paid to green transportation systems, the railway industry is expected to continue to expand significantly in the coming years. Prover's relationship with Synopsys will enable Prover to take advantage of these growth opportunities.

"Having Synopsys on board enables us to capitalize on opportunities that were previously out of our reach, and to undertake larger and more complex engineering projects," said Gunnar Stalmarck, CEO, Prover Technology. "There is a strong technology alignment with both companies providing the tools needed to engineer increasingly complex systems in their respective fields, and both are considered industry leaders and innovators."

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. is a world leader in EDA software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading semiconductor design and verification platforms and IC manufacturing software products to the global electronics market, enabling the development and production 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 Prover Technology

Prover Technology provides software products and services for development of control and signaling systems. The company was founded in 1989 and is privately held. It is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with wholly owned subsidiaries in France and USA. Prover Technology's customer base includes Airbus, Ansaldo, Bombardier, New York City Transit, RATP (Paris Metro), Swedish National Rail, Thales, and many others. For more information and office locations, visit Prover Technology's web site at http://www.prover.com.

Synopsys is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Any other trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

Editorial Contacts:
Marcus Tallhamn
Prover Technology
+1 650 722 2750
marcus@prover.com
Yvette Huygen
Synopsys, Inc.
650-584-4547
yvetteh@synopsys.com

SOURCE Synopsys, Inc.
CONTACT: Marcus Tallhamn of Prover Technology,
+1-650-722-2750,
marcus@prover.com; or
Yvette Huygen of Synopsys, Inc.,
+1-650-584-4547,
yvetteh@synopsys.com
Web site: http://www.synopsys.com

COPYRIGHT © 2008

Technology: Synopsys releases silicon proven 5.0 Gbps PCI Express

New DesignWare PHY IP Provides Designers with Complete, Single Vendor IP Solution for the PCI Express 2.0 Interface

Mountain View, California, (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design and manufacturing, today announced the availability of the DesignWare PHY IP for PCI Express 2.0 (Gen II), based on the PCI Express 2.0 base specification.

This product release further extends Synopsys' IP leadership by providing designers with the IP industry's only complete, silicon-proven PCI Express 2.0 IP solution, including digital controllers, PHY and verification IP from a single vendor. Accessing all the IP from one provider allows designers to lower the risk and cost of integrating the 5.0 Gbps PCI Express interface into their high performance system-on-chip (SoC) designs.

PCI Express 2.0 doubles the 1.1 specification transfer speed from 2.5 Gbps to 5.0 Gbps per lane, meeting the demand for both increased bandwidth and narrower interconnect links in data center, storage, high-end graphics and networking infrastructure applications.

Backwards compatibility with the PCI

Express 1.1 and PIPE specifications, allows designers to optimize performance and power while maintaining interoperability with existing devices. The DesignWare PHY IP substantially exceeds the PCI Express 2.0 electrical specification in areas such as jitter, margin and receive sensitivity, thus delivering a robust design without sacrificing performance.

The DesignWare PHY IP for PCI Express 2.0 includes advanced built-in diagnostic capabilities and ATE test vectors enabling at-speed production testing of the PHY. It is implemented in standard CMOS digital technologies and does not require special process options, providing both ease of integration into a SoC, and ensuring high production yields.

"Synopsys continues to be an IP leader, by providing designers with a robust, silicon-proven PCI Express 2.0 PHY that supports the Common Platform technology," said David Steer, director of IP Business Development at Chartered Semiconductor.

"By combining the DesignWare PHY IP with the multi-sourcing capabilities of Common Platform technology, designers benefit from having a high quality mixed-signal PHY that can be manufactured at multiple foundries using a single GDSII source."

"We have had an extensive relationship with Synopsys on PHY IP and have been very pleased with their architecture, technical knowledge, support and capability," said Regina Darmoni, director, Analog/Mixed Signal & Digital Foundry, IBM.

"The DesignWare PHY for PCI Express 2.0, which is available in the 65-nm IBM ASIC offering and the 65-nm Common Platform foundry technology, enables us to successfully deliver high quality solutions to the market."

"PCI-SIG welcomes the introduction of the new Synopsys DesignWare PHY IP for PCI Express 2.0," said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG chairman and president. "As an active member of PCI-SIG, Synopsys helps to prepare the industry for the proliferation of the PCI Express technology and we are happy to see them enable designers to integrate the latest specification into their chips."

"With the release of the DesignWare PHY for PCI Express 2.0, designers can now get access to a complete silicon-proven IP solution from a single, trusted vendor," said John Koeter, senior director of marketing for IP and Services at Synopsys. "As the leading provider of PCI Express IP, we continue to invest heavily in our IP roadmap to deliver low risk, high quality IP solutions that help our customers bring differentiated products to the market faster."

Availability

The DesignWare PHY IP for PCI Express 2.0 is available in leading 65-nm foundry processes, notably the Common Platform technology from IBM and Chartered, which provides users with a unique "copy exact", multi-source capability enabling them to use multiple foundries with no design re-work.

The DesignWare IP digital controllers and verification IP for PCI Express 2.0 are also available today. For more information or to take a virtual tour of the Synopsys IP lab, please visit: http://www.synopsys.com/pciexpress.

In addition, participate in the mixed-signal IP blog at: http://synopsysoc.org/msip-blog/

About DesignWare IP

Synopsys offers a broad portfolio of high-quality, silicon-proven digital, mixed-signal and verification IP for system-on-chip designs. As the leading provider of connectivity IP, Synopsys delivers the industry's most complete solutions for widely used protocols such as USB, PCI Express, SATA, Ethernet and DDR.

In addition to connectivity IP, Synopsys offers SystemC transaction level models to build virtual platforms for rapid, pre-silicon development of software. When combined with a robust IP development methodology, extensive investment in quality and comprehensive technical support, DesignWare IP enables designers to accelerate time-to-market and reduce integration risk.

For more information on DesignWare IP, visit http:/www.synopsys.com/designware

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) is a world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading system and semiconductor design and verification platforms, IC manufacturing and yield optimization solutions, semiconductor intellectual property and design services to the global electronics market. These solutions enable the development and production of complex integrated circuits and electronic systems. Through its comprehensive solutions, Synopsys addresses the key challenges designers and manufacturers face today, including power management, accelerated time to yield and system-to-silicon verification.

Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has more than 60 offices located throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http:// www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys and DesignWare are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. Any other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

Yvette Huygen Synopsys, Inc.
650-584-4547 yvetteh@synopsys.com Ellen Van Etten MCA
970-778-6094 evanetten@mcapr.com

SOURCE: Synopsys, Inc.
CONTACT: Yvette Huygen of Synopsys, Inc., +1-650-584-4547,
yvetteh@synopsys.com;
or Ellen Van Etten of MCA, +1-970-778-6094,
evanetten@mcapr.com,
for Synopsys, Inc.
Web site: http://www.synopsys.com

COPYRIGHT © 2008