Agere Systems Provides Atrenta's SpyGlass to Customers for Comprehensive ASIC Handoff

SAN JOSE, Calif. & ALLENTOWN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2002-- Atrenta(TM) Inc, the Predictive Analysis Company, and Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR.A, AGR.B), the No. 2 worldwide ASIC provider, announced today that Agere has selected Atrenta's SpyGlass®, the industry's only predictive analyzer, as their application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) handoff tool.

SpyGlass analyzes gate-level netlists for design rule violations, allowing Agere's ASIC customers to identify potential design issues before handoff to Agere for final design and manufacturing.

SpyGlass has a robust set of capabilities that allows ASIC providers like Agere to deliver advanced design rules and analyses to their customers who require innovative design technologies for their complex product development. Agere will provide SpyGlass software to its customers through a flexible web-based delivery method.

"Agere is providing Atrenta's SpyGlass as part of the comprehensive suite of industry-leading design tools our customers require to help enable faster time to market at lower cost," said Cindy Genther, marketing director for Agere's ASIC business. "More than any other ASIC provider, we are focused on providing the highest level of service-centered operations to our customers, and this tool is another one of those differentiating ASIC services Agere provides."

Agere chose SpyGlass because it offered a comprehensive solution upon which advanced design audits can be developed. By enhancing SpyGlass with Agere's internally developed design audit and handoff tools, Agere can offer a more robust process to help ensure first-pass success. "SpyGlass provides a new level of analysis for our customers making it faster and easier to achieve handoff," Genther said. "Agere's strategy is to utilize the very best commercially available tools as a platform on which leading edge methodologies and solutions are built. Use of SpyGlass by our customers reduces our risk and non-recurring engineering charges in implementing the ASIC because it ensures Agere-process compliance."

SpyGlass supports industry standard file formats like Verilog, VHDL, and Synopsys Liberty, all of which meet Agere's requirements and those of their customers. For custom rule development, SpyGlass interfaces with C and PERL development languages to allow Agere to develop their library-specific rule deck. The C interface provides development of complex memory and compute intensive audits, while ensuring a fast runtime. SpyGlass provides in-depth analysis of Verilog and VHDL register transfer level (RTL) early in the design process. Agere has extended the capability of Spyglass by providing Agere specific rules for analyzing gate-level netlists for design rule violations in such areas as overloaded drivers, undesired clock interactions, electro migration violations, and intellectual property (IP)-specific errors.

"Atrenta is pleased to offer the industry's only predictive analysis platform to Agere's ASIC customers through our flexible business models and OEM sponsorships," said Dr. Ajoy Bose, Atrenta chairman, president and chief executive officer. "By catching complex design problems and process flow issues early, Agere's ASIC customers benefit from smooth, iteration free handoff to Agere for implementation. This is truly a three-way win for Agere, Agere's customers and Atrenta."

Agere's expert knowledge in ASIC design methodology is captured in SpyGlass for their customers to leverage during the design process. The Agere-specific rules allow SpyGlass to detect potentially fatal design issues that might be difficult, if not impossible, to identify with other methods. While some of these problems may be detected during gate-level simulation, that approach is prohibitively slow and does not guarantee detection. It is a real benefit to Agere's customers that they can run the Agere developed SpyGlass rules during the design process and ensure that hand-off to Agere meets all design requirements, while avoiding time consuming and costly design iterations. Additionally, SpyGlass with the Agere rules perform both electrical and topology analysis, identifying areas of poor implementation, which although correct in function, may lead to lower circuit performance.

"SpyGlass allows Agere to standardize on a single tool for both RTL and gate level analysis," Genther said. "In looking at alternatives, there was no other available solution that satisfied all of Agere's requirements. We needed a robust platform to develop a comprehensive rule set that we deliver to our customers as part of our ASIC kit, and SpyGlass provides that capability."

Availability

The Agere-specific rule set is currently shipping and included in Agere's ADS301 release that is supported on Sun/Solaris 2.8 and HP-UX 11. SpyGlass is supported on Sun/Solaris 2.5- 2.8, HP-UX 10.2 and 11.0 and RedHat Linux 7.

About Agere Systems

Agere Systems is a premier provider of advanced integrated circuit solutions that access, move and store network information. Agere's access portfolio enables seamless network access and Internet connectivity through its industry-leading WiFi/802.11 solutions for wireless LANs and computing applications, as well as its GPRS offering for data-capable cellular phones. The company also provides custom and standard multi-service networking solutions, such as broadband Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH components and wireless infrastructure chips, to move information across metro, access and enterprise networks. Agere is the market leader in providing integrated circuits such as read-channel chips, preamplifiers and system-on-a-chip solutions for high-density storage applications. Agere's customers include the leading PC manufacturers, wireless terminal providers, network equipment suppliers and hard-disk drive providers. More information about Agere Systems is available from its Web site at http://www.agere.com.

About Atrenta

Atrenta offers a new approach in accelerating the design of complex SoC, ASICs, and FPGAs through predictive analysis. Its SpyGlass software is the first tool that performs detailed structural analysis on register-transfer-level Verilog and VHDL code in order to check for complex problems, which include coding styles, RTL-handoff, design re-use, clock/reset requirements, as well as ERC and topological analysis of gate-level designs. Its breakthrough and innovative "look-ahead" capability incorporates a fast-synthesis engine, logic evaluator, and testability technologies. Atrenta has over fifty customers, including Agere, Agilent, Apple, ARM, Canon, Compaq, Cypress, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Motorola, National Semiconductor, NCR, Nortel, Olympus, and Toshiba, who are using SpyGlass to achieve shorter overall design cycles, increased design productivity and lower costs. Atrenta is headquartered in San Jose, California, with European offices in England and France, a research and development center in India, and sales and support distributors in India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. For further information, visit the Atrenta website at http://www.atrenta.com or call 408-453-3333.

SpyGlass is a registered trademark and Atrenta is a trademark of Atrenta Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Agere Systems' forward-looking statements

This release contains forward-looking statements based on information available to Agere as of the date hereof. Agere's actual results could differ materially from the results stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, customer demand for our products and services, control of costs and expenses, timely completion of employment reductions and other restructuring and consolidation activities, price and product competition, keeping pace with technological change, dependence on new product development, reliance on major customers and suppliers, availability of manufacturing capacity, components and materials, general industry and market conditions and general domestic and international economic conditions including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations. For a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2001, and report on Form 10-Q for the period ending June 30, 2002. Agere disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

     Atrenta PR Counsel
     Paula Jones, 650/967-3711 (office)
     paula@newiic.com
     or
     Marketing Communications
     Mona Singh, 408/467-4248 (office)
     mona@atrenta.com
     or
     Agere Systems
     Steven Goldsmith, 610/712-6737 (office)
                       484/357-0216 (mobile)
     goldsmith@agere.com