Synopsys EDA Developers' Forums to Focus on Interoperability And Verification Solutions; Synopsys CEO and Chairman Aart de Geus to Deliver Keynote Address

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2003--Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS), the world leader in integrated circuit (IC) design software, today announced its eleventh electronic design automation (EDA) Interoperability Developers' Forum and the first Milkyway(TM) Developers' Forum. Dr. Aart de Geus, Synopsys CEO and chairman, will kick off the forums with a keynote address explaining the need for implementation and verification platforms to meet the continually evolving challenges of nanometer-scale design. The EDA Interoperability Developers' Forum will be held on April 10, 2003 and the Milkyway Developers' Forum will take place on April 11, 2003, in Santa Clara, California

"Nanometer-scale designs benefit from open implementation and verification platforms based on proven databases and universal languages," said Dr. de Geus. "The SystemVerilog language and Milkyway design database serve as the foundation for Synopsys' verification platform and Galaxy(TM) Design Platform. In these open, interoperable environments, EDA vendors and customers can craft best-in-class flows for each stage of the design and verification process."

The Milkyway Developers' Forum is the first chance for the EDA community and members of the Milkyway Access Program (MAP-in(SM)) to gather since Synopsys opened the Milkyway database earlier this year. Nearly 100 EDA professionals from 65 companies attended last year's EDA Interoperability Developers' Forum.

April 2003 EDA Interoperability Developers' Forum Topics

--	Accellera and SystemVerilog update by Dennis Brophy, chairman of Accellera
--	New assertions enhancements and IP development guidelines to the OpenVera(TM) Assertions Language Reference Manual
--	New SDC 1.4 design constraints parser and SDC update
--	User's perspective on open source parsers from Paul Rodman, co-founder and CTO at ReShape
--	Liberty(TM) open library standard updates
--	Library perspective from Scott Becker, co-founder and CTO at Artisan Components, Inc.
--	Characterization considerations for static noise analysis from Silicon Metrics
--	Milkyway panel discussion led by Gary Smith, chief EDA analyst, Gartner Dataquest, including representatives from LSI Logic and National Semiconductor

Milkyway Developers' Forum Topics

-- Users' integration experiences with the Milkyway design

database from LSI Logic

-- C-based application programming interface (C-API) overview

-- Milkyway tutorial from Synopsys engineers

-- Milkyway R&D session with Synopsys engineers

"As a leading designer and manufacturer of communications, consumer and storage semiconductors, LSI Logic has been using Synopsys' implementation tools and Milkyway's interfaces to integrate its internal tools with great success," said Sudhakar Sabada, vice president of Design Technology at LSI Logic. "We welcome Synopsys' first Milkyway Developers' Forum as an opportunity to share best practices and experiences with users in the Milkyway community."

"We've worked with Synopsys on Liberty signal integrity modeling solutions that can help the industry," said Neal Carney, vice president of marketing at Artisan Components, Inc. "Our participation in Synopsys' Interoperability Developers' Forum is an opportunity to improve design flows for our mutual customers through increased communication and active, informative discussions with developers."

"There is a tremendous amount of momentum around the proven Milkyway database and its environment," said Karen Bartleson, director of Quality and Interoperability at Synopsys, Inc. "Coupled with the Milkyway Developers' Forum and Interoperability Developers' Forum, the EDA industry is aggressively moving interoperability efforts forward. Synopsys' ongoing EDA developers' events provide needed forums for EDA vendors and customers to create interoperable flows with best-in-class solutions."

About Synopsys' Developers' Forums

The Developers' Forums are a part of Synopsys' program to promote EDA tool interoperability by providing licenses and support of key formats to all EDA vendors. The forums are offered to EDA developers including members of Synopsys' Milkyway Access Program (MAP-in(SM)), Technology Access Program (TAP-in(SM)) and in-Sync(R) Program. The event series has been well accepted by the EDA community and has experienced steady growth in participation since its inception in 1998. For more information on and to register for the EDA Interoperability Developers' Forum, visit www.synopsys.com/partners/tapin/forum_info.html. For the Milkyway Developers' Forum, visit www.synopsys.com/milkywayforum.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) is the world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for integrated circuit (IC) design. The company delivers technology-leading IC 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 is located in more than 60 offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys and in-Sync are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. Galaxy and Milkyway are trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. MAP-in and TAP-in are service marks of Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Synopsys, Inc.
             Isela Gamboa, 650/584-1644
             igamboa@synopsys.com
             or
             Edelman Public Relations
             Jodi Warner, 650/429-2752
             jodi.warner@edelman.com