SynTest Signs Logicad as Distribution Partner for India

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 2003--Sunnyvale-based SynTest Technologies, a leading provider of design-for-test (DFT) technology, announced today that they have signed on Milpitas, Calif.-based Logicad Technologies, a newly formed company to handle electronic design automation (EDA) tools, to be their distribution partner for India.

Today, many semiconductor multi-national corporations (MNCs), both large integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and small fabless semiconductor companies, are either setting up their own design centers in India or offering "Turn-key" projects to Indian design companies. This has generated a growing need to provide EDA (IC-design) tools and even DFT technology locally in India.

Logicad, with its roots in the Silicon Valley and India, and a strong understanding the IC-design arena through its associate company's strength in chip design and development, which includes expertise in the areas of front-end design and verification, physical design and verification, FPGA design and IP-product developments, provides an excellent resource to support the Indian market.

"Logicad has already tied up with renowned EDA Tool Vendors as their exclusive distributors to India. We have made a thorough study of the Indian DFT market. With the present market scenario and improved economy, we are happy to tie up with SynTest, one of the major DFT tool vendors," said Shiv Turmari, senior deputy general manager of Logicad India. He added, "We have seen a steady increase in the number of successful ASIC tape-outs. SynTest has impressive technology to improve an electronic design's testability and fault coverage, which results in reduced defect levels and reduced slippage in time-to-market (TTM). The combination of SynTest's tools with the comprehensive distribution and customer support channel from Logicad will enable our customers to increase productivity, lower design cost and shorten time-to-market."

Dr. Ravi Apte, vice president of strategy and business development at SynTest, remarked, "The emerging market for ASIC design in India calls for timely local EDA and DFT support. We are happy to be working with Logicad, with its ideal credentials, to help provide local support in India to companies seeking to improve their ASIC and system testability and reduce test costs."

About Logicad

Logicad Technologies, Inc. is a Milpitas, Calif.-based EDA tool distributor, set up to represent the leading EDA tool vendors in the Asia Pacific market. With its associate company's expertise in Chip Design services and IP-Product development, Logicad has been closely looking at business options for distribution of EDA tools in the Asia Pacific region. With Fortune 500 technology companies and start-ups planning to set up their own design centers or outsourcing their chip design projects to Asia, Logicad is well positioned to be a leading EDA tool distributor.

About SynTest

SynTest Technologies, Inc., est. 1990, develops and markets advanced design-for-test (DFT) and design-for-debug/diagnosis (DFD) tools throughout the world, to semiconductor companies, system houses, and design service providers. The company's products improve an electronic design's testability and fault coverage and result in reduced defect levels and reduced slippage in time-to-market (TTM). The products also reduce overall design and test costs, by helping to reduce design iterations as well as the time and reloads on automatic test equipment (ATE). These products include tools for logic BIST, memory BIST, boundary-scan synthesis, DFT testability analysis, VirtualScan synthesis and ATPG with XtremeCompact(TM) test vectors, concurrent fault simulation, silicon debug and diagnosis. The company, headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., has offices in Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and distributors in Europe and Asia including Israel. More information is available at www.syntest.com.

SynTest, TurboScan, VirtualScan, XtremeCompact and TurboDiagnosis are trademarks of SynTest Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Acronyms:

ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuits

ATE: Automatic Test Equipment

ATPG: Automatic Test Program Generation

BIST: Built-In Self-Test

DFT: Design-for-Test

DFD: Design-for-Debug/Diagnosis

EDA: Electronic Design Automation

FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Arrays

IC: Integrated Circuits

IDM: Integrated Device Manufacturer

IP: Intellectual Property

MNC: Multi-National Company

SoC: System-on-Chip

TTM: Time-to-Market

CONTACT: SynTest Technologies, Inc.
             Nayan Pradhan, 408-720-9956 ext. 301
             nayan@syntest.com
             or
             Logicad
             408-635-8700 (USA)
             Shiv Turmari, + 91 80 56714041 (India)
             shiv@logicad.us