Magma's Cobra Products Now Available; 18-Month Development Delivers N

Magma's Cobra Products Now Available; 18-Month Development Delivers New Products, Expanded Capabilities for 90-nm and 65-nm Design

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    SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2005--Magma(R) Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of semiconductor design software, today announced the availability of its next generation of design software, the result of its recent 18-month-long Cobra development initiative. The products resulting from the Cobra project -- which comprise Magma's 2005.03 release -- include both new products and enhanced capabilities to existing Magma software, such as Blast Create(TM), Blast Fusion(R), Blast Noise(R) and Blast Plan(TM) Pro.
    "The 18-plus months that have gone into this effort have delivered products that will significantly expand design options available to our customers as they do more and more design work at 90 and 65 nanometers," said Rajeev Madhavan, Magma's chief executive officer. "Many of the capabilities that the Cobra project delivers are the result of strategic acquisitions we have made in the last few years -- small, early-stage companies that brought us talented technologists who could make key contributions to Magma's design system. Cobra continues Magma's innovation leadership in EDA by rounding out our existing IC implementation flow and broadening our product line." Among the new capabilities the Cobra release provides are:

--	Timing, noise and power "Signoff in the Loop"(TM) with SSTA (static statistical timing analysis)
--	A single design platform for all IC (integrated circuit) silicon architectures, including FPGAs, structured ASIC and standard cell
--	DFT (design-for-test) automation
--	Integrated yield optimization
--	Next-generation DRC/LVS (design rule checking/ layout-versus-schematic) architecture
--	Automated hierarchical design flow and interconnect synthesis

    "A key element in the Cobra release is the integration of timing, noise, power, test and yield signoff into the implementation flow," Madhavan continued. "This further reduces effort and implementation time by delivering a correct-by-construction flow."

    New Products

    The new 2005.03 release expands Magma's portfolio with several new products:

    -- Quartz RC(TM): Provides signoff-quality parasitic extraction
    and can operate as either a standalone tool or integrated with
    the Blast Fusion system, where it underlies the "Signoff in
    the Loop" flow. Quartz RC delivers accuracy that is closely
    correlated to QuickCap(R) -- Magma's 3-D extractor that is
    considered the Gold standard for accuracy in parasitic
    extraction -- while providing predictable results compared to
    Blast Fusion's fast implementation extractor.

    -- Quartz Time(TM): This new product combines the proven static
    timer in Magma's Blast Fusion with advanced timing
    capabilities to create a standalone signoff timing system.
    Designed to complement the built-in signoff system of Blast
    Fusion QT, Quartz Time extends support to independent signoff
    verification flows that do not require a full Blast Fusion
    system, such as ASIC customers. Quartz Time includes the
    ability to perform concurrent analysis with multi-corner
    operating conditions, multiple operating modes, on-chip
    variation (OCV), and the use of the advanced ECSM delay model.
    Quartz Time also includes crosstalk noise and delay analysis,
    as well as support for multi-voltage design and timing impact
    of IR drop delay.

    -- Blast Fusion(R) QT: Blast Fusion QT provides advanced
    capabilities that enable "Signoff in the Loop" timing analysis
    with concurrent optimization. This includes the ability to
    perform concurrent analysis and optimization with multi-corner
    operating conditions, multiple operating modes, on-chip
    variation (OCV) and the use of the advanced ECSM delay model.
    This product provides designers access to a signoff timing
    analysis engine within the implementation flow, eliminating
    the need to iterate with external signoff tools, thereby
    providing tremendous improvements in design turnaround times.

    -- Blast DFT(TM): Integrated design for test provides advanced
    testability. This DFT automation includes advanced BIST
    capabilities for logic and memory, including built-in
    self-repair capabilities. Magma's physically aware DFT
    solutions provide enormous productivity and represent an
    end-to-end test solution that interoperates with testers.

    -- Quartz SSTA(TM): This new product accounts for process
    variations and provides a parametric yield analysis capability
    for the design, providing parametric extraction and SSTA
    simultaneously. The SiliconSmart(R) characterization and
    modeling tools of Magma's Silicon Correlation Division provide
    the statistical library models required by SSTA.

    -- Quartz DRC(TM) and Quartz LVS(TM): These products result from
    Magma's acquisition of Mojave Design and are targeted to
    provide the fastest turnaround time of any physical
    verification tools, with a goal of verifying any design in
    less than 2 hours. Improved manufacturability is also provided
    via superior modeling capabilities for 90- and 65-nm
    technologies.

    -- Blast Plan(TM) FX: Blast Plan FX provides automated
    hierarchical design capabilities such that hierarchical design
    projects should no longer be viewed as risky undertakings, but
    instead as the preferred way to manage and complete large,
    complex SoCs (systems on chip). It includes advanced new
    algorithms for physical partition placement and shaping,
    channel sizing, and relative constraint extraction and
    execution, as well as providing automation for taking a
    complete hierarchical chip from RTL to GDSII in a
    deterministic, repeatable fashion throughout the design cycle.

    -- Blast Yield(TM): A comprehensive design-for-yield (DFY)
    solution, tightly integrated within Magma's RTL-to-GDSII
    implementation flow. It incorporates multiple techniques to
    optimize the design for parametric and functional yield --
    both cell and wire yield -- without compromising timing or
    area, thereby enabling designers to maximize the yield
    potential of their designs and achieve cost savings.

    New Capabilities

    The Cobra release also brings new capabilities to the existing components of Magma's IC implementation design flow, including the addition of interconnect synthesis. "With interconnect synthesis, optimization is performed in the routing phase, rather than relying on logic optimization during logic synthesis as has historically been done," said Premal Buch, general manager of Magma's Design Implementation Business Unit. "Optimization in logic synthesis alone was insufficient as wireload models started failing at 0.18 micron and below, and Magma innovated to provide the first successful physical synthesis tool set, which combined placement and optimization. At 90 nanometers and below, wire delay and the effect of their neighbors contribute to almost all deep-submicron effects. We now know that more and more of the optimization has to be done as wires are assigned to tracks and are being routed. This move to combine optimization and routing requires a new flow with a new approach -- interconnect synthesis. Besides comprehending cell delay and wire delay, which logic and physical synthesis tools did, now with interconnect synthesis shapes and switching of neighboring wires are comprehended."
    Another advancement is Magma's "Unified Platform Synthesis(TM)," a single synthesis engine that implements RTL into standard cell, FPGA and Structured ASIC platforms. Optimization is performed through placed gates for all platforms to deliver the best timing, area and power of any solution. This provides simple platform retargeting with predictable results, allowing users to make accurate trade-off analysis early and repeatedly in the design cycle to determine the best-cost solution that meets requirements.

    Availability

    Each of the products developed in the Cobra initiative are currently in limited release with a number of Magma customers, with general releases expected to begin in June 2005.

    About Magma

    Magma provides leading software for designing highly complex integrated circuits while maximizing Quality of Results with respect to area, timing and power, and at the same time reducing overall design cycles and costs. Magma provides a complete RTL-to-GDSII design flow that includes design planning, prototyping, synthesis, place & route, and signal and power integrity chip design capabilities in a single executable, offering "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon"(TM). Magma's software also includes products for advanced physical synthesis and architecture development tools for programmable logic devices (PLDs); capacitance extraction; and characterization and modeling. The company's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

    Blast Fusion, Blast Fusion QT, Blast Noise, SiliconSmart and Magma are registered trademarks, and Blast Create, Blast DFT, Blast Plan Pro, Blast Plan FX, Blast Yield, Mojave, Quartz DRC, Quartz LVS, Quartz RC, Quartz Time, Quartz SSTA, "Signoff in the Loop," "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon" and "Unified Platform Synthesis" are trademarks of Magma Design Automation Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies.

    Forward-looking Statements:

    Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements that Magma products resulting from the Cobra project will significantly expand design options available to Magma customers, reduce effort and implementation time by delivering a correct-by-construction flow, reduce iterations, improve design turnaround times, improve manufacturability, maximize yield potential of designs, provide enormous productivity, improve timing, area and power, and help achieve cost savings, and other statements about the features and benefits of Magma's products, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to the ability of Magma's products to produce the desired results and Magma's ability to keep pace with rapidly changing technology. Further discussion of these and other potential risk factors may be found in Magma's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). Magma undertakes no additional obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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CONTACT: Magma Design Automation Inc. Maxine Bingham, 408-565-7631 maxine@magma-da.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE SOFTWARE MANUFACTURING PRODUCT PHOTO PHOTOWIRE EDA SOURCE: Magma Design Automation Inc. PHOTO: 42768

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