SiliconBlue Selects Synopsys as FPGA Synthesis Partner for Its iCE65 mobileFPGA Family

Agreement targets the handheld mobile application segment as a new opportunity for programmable logic

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., and SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 31 -- Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, and SiliconBlue, a leader in ultra-low power, single-chip SRAM FPGAs, today announced that SiliconBlue has chosen Synopsys Synplify Pro® FPGA synthesis software as the synthesis tool of choice for its iCE65™ family of mobileFPGA™ devices. SiliconBlue will distribute with its iCEcube™ software a version of the Synplify Pro software optimized for iCE65 devices. This version of the Synplify Pro software will have a thorough understanding of the unique architectural structure of SiliconBlue's devices, bringing Synopsys' world-class synthesis and mapping technology to SiliconBlue customers.

"The unprecedented success of our mobileFPGA devices has driven us to improve our development tool platform. Providing reliable, state-of-the-art synthesis is vital to our customers' success," said Kapil Shankar, CEO of SiliconBlue. "We chose Synopsys as our synthesis tool partner because of Synplify Pro's well-known standard of excellence in quality of results, ease-of-use, and overall platform robustness."

The customized version of the Synplify Pro software will contain all of the features of the standard version, and will be tuned for the SiliconBlue mobile FPGA device architecture. Because of its understanding of the iCE65 family architecture, the Synplify Pro software will be able to generate a high-performing netlist optimized for low area utilization – an important consideration in low power applications. Users of the Synplify Pro software can choose to generate either Verilog or VHDL netlists to be used for simulation from the software. The Synplify Pro software will also be tightly integrated and tested with SiliconBlue's iCEcube software.

Gary Meyers, vice president and general manager of Synopsys' Synplicity Business Group said, "SiliconBlue is clearly extending the range of applications for FPGAs into the handheld market, reaching designers that have not used programmable logic in the past. The combination of Synplify Pro and iCE65 mobileFPGA devices allows both of our companies to cultivate this new market together."

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) is a world leader in electronic design automation (EDA), supplying the global electronics market with the software, intellectual property (IP) and services used in semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing. Synopsys' comprehensive, integrated portfolio of implementation, verification, IP, manufacturing and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) solutions helps address the key challenges designers and manufacturers face today, such as power and yield management, software-to-silicon verification and time-to-results. These technology-leading solutions help give Synopsys customers a competitive edge in bringing the best products to market quickly while reducing costs and schedule risk. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has more than 65 offices located throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Asia and India. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

About SiliconBlue

SiliconBlue Technologies provides a new class of ultra-low power, single-chip, SRAM FPGAs designed specifically for handheld consumer applications. Manufactured on TSMC's 65nm LP (low power) CMOS process, the iCE65 mobileFPGA family meets the capacity, power, area, and price requirements for battery-operated products such as Smartphones, eBooks/ePaper, netbooks, mobile internet devices, portable media players, handheld POS terminals, medical instruments, digital still cameras and flash camcorders. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company has a highly skilled team of PLD experts who have been instrumental in developing and patenting many of the leading programmable logic technologies on the market today. Visit SiliconBlue online at http://www.siliconbluetech.com/.