Cadence Targets Acceleration of IEEE 1499 Open Model Interface Standard With No-Charge Licensing of Adapter Technology

SAN JOSE, CALIF. (April 5) BUSINESS WIRE -April 5, 1999--

OMI to PLI Software Ensures Open Exchange

               of HDL-based IP For SOC Designs 

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN) today announced that it will provide IEEE 1499 Open Model Interface (OMI) to IEEE 1364 Programming Language Interface (PLI) adapter technology at no cost to companies who develop and/or resell simulators for hardware description language (HDL) simulations.

The adapters are fully tested with the Affirma(tm) model packager and the Cadence(R) Affirma HDL simulators and are available in both compiled and source code format.

This unique technology enables any HDL simulator with a PLI interface to be equipped with an OMI socket for use with any component model that supports OMI. The adapter is the second product to be delivered through the recently announced Cadence Connections(R) open licensing program. Easy access to the adapter will greatly increase the number of models available to designers and facilitate the distribution of intellectual property.

"Cadence has validated its support of the OMI standard by integrating it with its full line of HDL simulators," said Jose Fernandez, director of system-level design products for Cadence. "The next step in accelerating the adoption of this standard is to ensure open exchange of HDL-based IP essential to meeting the demands of system-on-a-chip (SOC) designs. Users will benefit from having access to larger intellectual property (IP) portfolios and the increased performance and flexibility inherent in the OMI interface."

"IEEE 1499 OMI is the premier method for the integration and reuse of IP views. I am encouraged by Cadence's efforts to promote this standard with the Affirma model packager," said Will Hobbs, Open Model Forum chair. "Other EDA companies, IP vendors, and IP integrators should see significant benefits in developing OMI tools and distributing OMI enabled models."

"Transition of the industry from proprietary formats to open standards is critical to the EDA industry's overall growth. The IEEE 1499 OMI standard is an important step in that direction," said Dennis Brophy, chairman of Open Verilog International (OVI) and director of strategic business development for Model Technology, Inc.

OMI supports all the common modeling styles including Verilog, VHDL, and 'c' and is engineered specifically for high-speed simulations. It can be used for any application requiring fast data transfer, such as debug environments and testbench generation, enabling a significant overall boost in simulation performance.

Price and Availability

Available in June 1999, Cadence will offer the adapter technology through the Connections open licensing program. The software will be provided to licensees at no cost.

Connections Program

The Cadence Connections third-party software program is chartered with making the Cadence "always open" policy a reality. There are now more than 100 tool-oriented alliances formed with Cadence Connection partners supporting several hundred interface products.

About Cadence

Cadence is the largest supplier of software products, consulting services, and design services used to accelerate and manage the design of semiconductors, computer systems, networking and telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, and a variety of other electronics-based products. With more than 4,000 employees and 1998 annual sales of $1.2 billion, Cadence has sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world.

The company is headquartered in San Jose and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CDN. More information about the company, its products and services may be obtained from the World Wide Web at http://www.cadence.com.

Note to Editors: Cadence, Connections, and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks and Affirma is a trademark of Cadence Designs Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their owners.

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CONTACT: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

           Deborah Chalmers, 408/428-5795 

debc@cadence.com

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