MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), a world leader in semiconductor design software, announced that a foursome has received Synopsys' seventh annual Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award for their vital, initial support of a single standard for low-power design and verification. Texas Instruments, Nokia, Mentor Graphics and Magma Design Automation together with Synopsys demonstrated strong support from the outset for an open, fast and inclusive standard to enable an interoperable low-power design and verification solution. The resulting Unified Power Format (UPF) is the newest Accellera standard approved in February 2007.

"For the first time, we are presenting this award to a team," said Rich Goldman, vice president, Strategic Market Development at Synopsys. "The success of UPF shows the value of open, fast and inclusive industry collaboration."

"We are honored to accept the Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award, and we congratulate the other recipients," said David Peterman, manager, EDA and Design Methodology, Wireless Terminals Business Unit, Texas Instruments. "As a premier supplier of low-power ICs, we challenged the industry to quickly create a standard that was open and inclusive. Through our efforts and those of numerous contributors, UPF is here today and it is laudable to see EDA companies announcing support for it."

In July 2006, the industry became critically aware of the need for a common standard to describe low-power design intent throughout a multi-vendor design flow. Texas Instruments, Nokia, Mentor Graphics and Magma Design Automation showed leadership in helping coalesce many electronic design automation (EDA) suppliers and end-user companies around the UPF standard. With their backing, UPF has become the fastest EDA standard produced by Accellera to date with the highest number of technology donations converged into a single, open standard.

"As a world leader in mobility, Nokia embraces interoperability and sees opens standards as a central element in promoting innovation," said Mika Naula, Global IC Tools manager, Nokia. "We are delighted to receive this award and wish to see a wide and timely implementation of the UPF standard."

UPF allows all EDA tool vendors to offer advanced features that improve the design and verification of today's low-power integrated circuits (ICs). Customers can represent their low-power design intent in a common format knowing they have the freedom to choose the best EDA tools for their flow.

"Standards are effective when they are created in an open, collaborative environment," said Dennis Brophy, director of strategic business development, Design Verification and Test division, Mentor Graphics. "Mentor Graphics again demonstrated our dedication to interoperability by contributing technology and resources throughout the development of the UPF standard. We commend the other award recipients for helping drive the most important standard of the day."

"Magma backed the UPF effort from its inception and donated some of the key technologies because we wanted to encourage the cooperation and dedication of both customers and competitors to drive the best standard possible under Accellera," said Yatin Trivedi, director of Magma's Industry Partnership Program. "We are pleased these joint efforts have moved on to global adoption under IEEE."

As catalysts for UPF, Texas Instruments, Nokia, Mentor Graphics and Magma Design Automation epitomize the principles of EDA interoperability: cooperate on standards, compete on tools.

About the Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award

The Tenzing Norgay EDA Interoperability Achievement Award was established by Synopsys to recognize EDA providers who collaborate on interoperable design flows that benefit the user community. The award is presented annually to an EDA company that has surpassed common levels of interoperability, has contributed to overall industry advancement and has helped provide a new view of the future for EDA interoperability. Named for the crucial role that Sherpa Tenzing Norgay played in the first successful attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, the EDA Interoperability Achievement Award recognizes achievements that are critical to a designer's success.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) is a world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading system and semiconductor design and verification platforms, IC manufacturing and yield optimization solutions, semiconductor intellectual property and design services to the global electronics market. These solutions enable the development and production of complex integrated circuits and electronic systems. Through its comprehensive solutions, Synopsys addresses the key challenges designers and manufacturers face today, including power management, accelerated time to yield and system-to-silicon verification. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has more than 60 offices located throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Any other product or company names mentioned in this release are or may be trademarks of their respective owners.

  Editorial Contacts:
  Yvette Huygen
  Synopsys, Inc.
  650-584-4547
  yvetteh@synopsys.com

  Ellen Van Etten
  MCA, Inc.
  970-778-6094
  evanetten@mcapr.com

SOURCE: Synopsys, Inc.

CONTACT: Yvette Huygen of Synopsys, Inc., +1-650-584-4547,
yvetteh@synopsys.com; or Ellen Van Etten of MCA, Inc., +1-970-778-6094,
evanetten@mcapr.com, for Synopsys, Inc.

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