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MUNICH, Germany, March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- DATE 2001 -- Simutech, the pioneer of remote IP evaluation, has launched its eValab(TM) IP Services business with the assistance of Scottish Enterprise and the Alba Centre. This service will dramatically streamline the design-in process for complex IP and SoC platforms through remote evaluation and qualification. The IP hosting service is run on Simutech's eValab Platform and CoreBoard(TM) technology, and can be accessed through any popular or proprietary IP or ASIC vendor portal.

The eValab IP Services is a natural follow on to Simutech's previous announcements of its eValab Platform product and pioneering activities with several IP and semiconductor companies, to include, Toshiba, Infineon, Amphion, Palmchip, and community leaders that include the Institute for System Level Integration (ISLI) in Scotland and the IP Trading Company (IPTC) in Japan.

``The eValab IP Services will assist our IP and semiconductor partners to dramatically reduce the largest IP technical sales and front end design bottleneck, while facilitating a new level of reuse across geographically distributed hardware and software design teams,'' commented Steve Glaser, vice president of Marketing, Simutech.

``This new service offers IP and semiconductor vendors a huge competitive advantage by providing their customers the ability to evaluate and qualify IP online, and, at the same time, get far better leverage from their scarce applications engineering teams.''

ALBA CENTRE ASSISTS IN DELIVERING IN ``LAST MILE''

The IP4EVAL ``try before you buy'' pilot project, run jointly by Simutech and the Alba Centre was critical in defining the requirements for the eValab IP Services. All the work generated from the IP4EVAL project will be transferred to Simutech's new service offering with the Alba Centre continuing to be instrumental in supporting Simutech's eValab IP Service with infrastructure assistance. As part of the ongoing relationship, Simutech will be providing training support for the Institute for System Level Integration.

``On-line evaluation of IP components prior to a licensing decision is the key final piece in bringing the complete IP supply chain on-line. At Alba, we see our role as developing the infrastructure for the IP industry and we were very pleased with the success of the IP4EVAL project,'' commented Neill Francis, operations director at The Alba Centre. ``This new service will save designers a significant amount of time and money in the process of selecting the necessary components to populate their system on chip (SOC) designs.''

``The new service offers the industry the only way of supporting reconfigurable, multi-component evaluations quickly, with varying levels of user-specific data software, test benches and IP,'' commented David Stewart, vice president of European Operations and Sales, Simutech. ``It also introduces the first scaleable and automated ASP model that includes automated switching of evaluation configurations and automated job management.''

IP SERVICES LOWER THE BARRIERS FOR IP AND SOC INDUSTRY

The eValab IP Services dramatically lowers the entry barriers for both large and small IP and semiconductor vendors, while also supporting their critical shortage of internal engineering resources by web enabling their IP for rapid design-in.

The main elements of the service include:

• Set Up Services: Set up services assist customers in creating ``ready to evaluate'' CoreBoards, application focused design scenarios, and web interfaces. These evaluation scenarios are supported in the form of interactive datasheets (iDatasheets(TM)), accessed through a browser interface, or interactive Labs (iLab(TM)), accessed through a Java client.
• Hosting Services: Hosting Services are supported via a Simutech farm of specialized eValab servers that are customized with the CoreBoards and evaluation scenarios. Vendors typically sponsor the hosting fee in a pay per use access and support model that offers associated security, job management, and data management capabilities.
• Profiling Services: Profiling services allow vendors to capture critical information about what engineers are technically evaluating on-line, so that they can better tune their products and the evaluation scenarios to meet those needs.

``With the eValab IP Services, Simutech is complementing its remote IP evaluation technology with a very useful hosting service, which relieves IP and semiconductor vendors from the burden of setting up and maintaining their own eValab host,'' said Alex Bedarida, vice president of DSP at Infineon Technologies. ``This new service will significantly lower the entry barrier for remote IP evaluation.''

``As our IP portfolio and customer base continue to grow, efficient deployment of our technical support resources is becoming a major challenge,'' commented J.G. Doherty, CEO, Amphion Semiconductor. ``As a customer of eValab IP Services, Amphion can see how to streamline the time consuming phases of lead qualification and technical evaluation for some of our most popular, complex cores.''

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

eValab IP Services for CoreBoard and scenario development are available now, with planned hosting of components in the Scotland facility starting in Q2. For more information, contact info@simutech.com or contact Simutech direct at 408-573-6454. For International inquiries, please contact +44-1506-468-102.

About Simutech

Simutech's mission is to enable IP reuse, IP e-commerce, and rapid SoC development. Its customers include leading electronics systems, semiconductor, and IP companies. Simutech's products enable web based technical component evaluation, hardware-software co-development, and full SoC verification.

About The Alba Centre

The Alba Centre is the hub of a Scottish initiative aimed at driving the future of electronic design. It represents a unique collaboration involving government, industry and academia to create a world-leading centre for the electronic and related design industries of the future. More information can be found at www.albacentre.com .

Note: Simutech, eValab, RAVE, the Simutech logo, and other Simutech TM are registered trademarks of Simutech. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.