Thirteen Third-Party IP, Design Services and EDA Tool Suppliers Announce Support of LSI Logic's RapidChip(R)

The 13 initial companies participating in the first partner program in the Platform ASIC space will provide best-in-class, ready-to-use and verified products and services. Through LSI Logic and the RapidChip Platform ASIC partners, customers will be able to choose the optimal combination of IP, design services, tools and platform resources to quickly get to market while minimizing both design risk and cost. RapidChip Platform ASIC includes semiconductor platforms that are optimized for market specific applications such as communications, storage and computing as well as platforms that can be used across other high performance designs such as military, aerospace, industrial and medical applications.

Companies currently participating in the RapidChip Partner Program include ARM Limited, Arrow, Denali Software Inc., GDA Technologies Inc., Memec, PLDApplications, Pinpoint Solutions Inc., Synplicity Inc., Silicon Infusion, TeraSystems Inc., Daito Electron Co., Ltd., Innotech Corporation and Reptechnic Design.

"The participation of these 13 IP, design services and EDA companies in the Partner Program underscores the pervasiveness of the RapidChip Platform ASIC product that reduces engineering costs, mitigates design risk and speeds time to revenue," said Ronnie Vasishta, vice president, Technology Marketing, LSI Logic. "By proliferating our Platform ASIC products and partner services into the marketplace, designers have more choices for high performance customized solutions in a wide variety of applications. We are already seeing a dramatic turnaround in ASIC design starts and are very pleased that our partners are joining us in heralding in the era of Platform ASICs."

Intellectual Property Partners

Through the RapidChip Platform ASIC Partner Program, third-party suppliers supplement LSI Logic's world-class CoreWare(R) portfolio with IP that meets specific LSI Logic standards for design integrity, ease of use, reusability, supportability and quality for use in RapidChip designs. This innovative program significantly increases the number of IP offerings for RapidChip designs, providing a fast and affordable innovation path for designers in a broad range of applications and market segments. The larger selection of cores and shorter design cycles add convenience to RapidChip Platform ASIC customers, enhancing their ability to choose the right cores for their specific applications quickly and efficiently.

Design Services Partners

Delivering on the promise of shorter-design cycles, trained and qualified third-party design services partners work closely with RapidChip Platform ASIC customers to provide expert and qualified engineering resources across the globe. These partners are selected on the basis of their significant engineering expertise and experience, providing customers with a larger pool of resources to complete their designs faster and more efficiently. These design service partners augment LSI Logic design services and its Mint Design Services capabilities.

EDA Tools Partners

EDA tool partners provide key tools for LSI Logic's RapidChip design methodology. Through the RapidChip Platform ASIC Partner Program, EDA partners work with LSI Logic to create and customize tools into an optimized solution for RapidChip designs. The tools provided by EDA partners enable RapidChip customers to realize unequaled designer productivity and complete complex RapidChip designs on schedule.

About RapidChip

The RapidChip semiconductor platform combines the high-density, high-performance benefits of cell-based ASICs with the fast time-to-market and customization benefits of FPGAs, and the proven IP benefits of ASSPs. Targeting the communications, consumer, storage and other markets, RapidChip Platform ASICs use LSI Logic's high-performance field-tested CoreWare(R) IP, customizable logic, embedded memory, and innovative design concepts to significantly reduce design and manufacturing risk and costs. RapidChip Platform ASICs also provide a fast and seamless migration path to full standard-cell ASIC -- driving unit costs even lower.

Unique to RapidChip Platform ASICs is the customer-friendly interface that dramatically simplifies the underlying complexity of the design tools and flows associated with SoC design. Rule sets automatically manage architectural design, verification, and physical design. As a result, design schedules for high-performance chips are very predictable. Information on RapidChip technology is available through LSI Logic's direct sales channels and worldwide distribution partners.

About LSI Logic Corporation

LSI Logic Corporation focuses on the design and production of high-performance semiconductors for Consumer, Communications and Storage applications that access, interconnect and store data, voice and video. LSI Logic engineers incorporate reusable, industry-standard intellectual property building blocks that serve as the heart of leading-edge systems. LSI Logic serves its global OEM, channel and distribution customers with Platform ASICs, standard-cell ASICs, standard products, host bus adapters, RAID controllers and software. In addition, the company supplies storage network solutions for the enterprise. LSI Logic is headquartered at 1621 Barber Lane, Milpitas, CA 95035. http://www.lsilogic.com/ .

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                            RapidChip Partners

  IP

  ARM LIMITED

"The RapidChip Partners Program provides an additional significant avenue for ARM to strengthen its partnership with LSI Logic. We are excited by the prospect of enabling our IP portfolio for use in LSI Logic's industry-leading RapidChip Platform ASIC" said John Cornish, director of product marketing, ARM. "LSI Logic's RapidChip Platform ASIC is becoming a significant force in the market for addressing the need for shortening time to revenue and reducing risk on ASIC development."

DENALI SOFTWARE INC.

"With the increasing adoption of Platform ASIC solutions in the market, partnering with LSI Logic on the RapidChip Partners Program to enable Denali's industry leading Databahn DDR1 and DDR2 memory controller cores provides a new avenue for us to expand our customer base," said Mark Gogolewski, CTO, Denali. "We are pleased to be part of the RapidChip Partner Program and look forward to continuing to work with LSI Logic in bringing the benefits of our partnership to the marketplace."

GDA TECHNOLOGIES INC.

"We are pleased to be part of LSI Logic's RapidChip Partner Program launch, and are working to offer our comprehensive line of IP solutions such as PCI Express, Advanced Switching, HyperTransport, RapidIO, SPI-4 and Ethernet controllers on LSI Logic's revolutionary RapidChip platform," said Prakash Bare, vice president of IP Business Unit at GDA Technologies. "This partnership will empower customers to use high quality IP solutions to architect and realize complex ASICs with much reduced risk, cost, and time-to-market."

PLDApplications

Arnaud Schleich, vice president, Sales and Marketing for PLDApplications commented: "Our PCI, PCI-X and PCI-Express technologies are widely established with FPGA developers, so it's natural to extend our IP offerings to LSI Logic's RapidChip Platform ASICs." He added, "PLDA is also pleased to report right-first-time customer silicon for our PCI core implemented on LSI Logic's RapidChip. With PLDA's participation in LSI Logic's RapidChip Partners program, we look forward to additional success with our leading edge PCI- Express and PCI-X cores on RapidChip Platform ASICs."

  Tools

  SYNPLICITY INC.

"Synplicity is delighted to be a part of LSI Logic's RapidChip(R) Partner Program," said Joe Gianelli, vice president of Business Development and Strategic Alliances, Synplicity, Inc. "We have worked closely to develop a custom software tool, Amplify(R) RapidChip, which consistently delivers world-class results and rapid design closure for LSI Logic's Platform ASIC devices. The partnership is evidence of our mutual vision to provide feature rich ASIC products with quick time to market, reduced silicon cost and reduced risk."

TERASYSTEMS C.

According to Alain Labat, TeraSystems' president and CEO, "Platform/Structured ASIC has emerged as an attractive new alternative for many ASIC and FPGA designers, with RapidChip playing a leading role. We are very pleased to have partnered with LSI logic for the past 18 months to integrate our patented TeraGate(TM) technology in the unique LSI Logic RapidChip design flow. TeraForm-RapidChip, the customized product we created for structured ASIC customers, can help them achieve fast time-to-market at an affordable cost, with a user-friendly, efficient design process."

  DESIGN SERVICES

  ARROW

"Since RapidChip's inception, Arrow recognized how RapidChip addressed our customer's growing demand for a solution between FPGA and ASICs," said David West, vice president of Field Marketing and Engineering Services at Arrow. "We want to utilize our 20+ year partnership and over 1,000 ASICs' experience with LSI Logic to introduce the RapidChip technology to hundreds of Arrow customers in the coming years. With Arrow Design Teams located in LSI Logic's RapidChip Design Centers and the experience we've gained by working on their first 0.11 um RapidChip engagement in North America, Arrow is positioned to offer fast time-to-market while delivering a complex system solution at a competitive price point."

MEMEC

"RapidChip technology is proving an excellent fit for the needs of Memec Insight's customer base and enables us to demonstrate its added value from design services to production," said Bill Walker, president of MEMEC Insight Europe. "Our working relationship with LSI Logic in Europe can be traced back the best part of 20 years and allows Memec Insight to embed and support both LSI Logic's uProcessor CoreWare(R) and related complex IPs for SoC class designs. RapidChip's combination of time-to-market, ASIC class performance and low NRE enables Memec Insight to leverage its experience and track record to craft SoC solutions with multiple RapidChip customers worldwide."

PINPOINT SOLUTIONS INC.

"Pinpoint Solutions has been performing leading edge design services for ASIC designers, high end FPGA designers, and LSI Logic clients since 1992," said Peter Parsons, president of PSI. "In joining the RapidChip Partner Program, we are focusing all this experience and expertise on high-quality design services for RapidChip customers. LSI Logic's RapidChip technology is key to cost-effective, short turn-around digital design. Partnering with LSI Logic is allowing us to expand our customer base, while providing cutting edge products and services to designers. Our motto of 'Fast. Accurate. Pinpoint Solutions! applies perfectly to the RapidChip world!"

SILICON INFUSION

"For a company like Silicon Infusion, whose primary focus is on improving design productivity, Platform ASIC technologies such as RapidChip are having a significant impact on the types of systems we can jointly architect with our clients. They are enabling specialist communications needs to be met, and give designers both the performance and the fast time to market that they need for today's applications, said Tirumal Parvataneni, director of Silicon Infusion. "With a track record of right-first-time RapidChip design success to our name, we are well positioned to help companies take their first steps in Platform ASIC design and are pleased to be a member of the RapidChip partner program."

INNOTECH CORPORATION

"Leveraging solid RapidChip Platform ASIC technology, LSI Logic and Innotech will bring high quality solutions and faster design services that our customers expect," says Kouji Hirata, general manager of Product Solution Business Unit, Innotech Corporation.

CONTACT: Diana Hodges of LSI Logic Corporation, +1-408-433-4245, or
dhodges@lsil.com; or Linda Capcara of Brodeur Worldwide, +1-602-758-9283, or
lcapcara@brodeur.com, for LSI Logic Corporation

Web site: http://www.rapidchip.com/

Web site: http://www.lsilogic.com/