0-In Promotes Dr. Emil Girczyc to President and CEO

Co-founder Dr. L. Curtis Widdoes becomes CTO and Chairman of the Board of Directors

SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 7, 2002 - Today, 0-In Design Automation, Inc., The Assertion-Based Verification Company, announced the promotion of Dr. Emil Girczyc to president and CEO. 0-In co-founder and former CEO Dr. L. Curtis Widdoes has been named chief technology officer and remains chairman of the board of directors.

0-In is a pioneer and the leader in assertion-based verification for integrated circuits and electronic systems on a chip. Assertions document designer intent and enable efficient functional verification of electronic designs. Semiconductor companies and analysts estimate that verification consumes between 50 and 70 percent of the time it takes to develop a chip.

"Assertion-based verification applies both simulation and formal verification technologies to more effectively validate IC design behavior," said Dr. Widdoes. "The technology is in a stage of rapid advancement and 0-In is constantly enhancing its products to leverage new technology developments. I'm thrilled to transition into the CTO role where I can focus on keeping our core technology on the leading edge and incorporating these advances into our existing and future products."

"We're very fortunate to have Emil take over as president and CEO," Dr. Widdoes added. "He was one of the core team responsible for architecting the strategy by which Synopsys came to dominate synthesis in the early 1990s. He is a brilliant EDA technologist, strategist and marketer."

"Assertion-based verification is now recognized by many companies as essential for efficient and effective functional verification of complex ICs," commented Dr. Girczyc. "0-In has significant experience in making our assertion-based verification products work in production verification flows. I am excited to be leading 0-In as our products make the transition from early adopters to mainstream design groups."

Dr. Girczyc served as executive vice president of products for 0-In prior to his promotion to president and CEO. His previous EDA experience includes Cadabra Design Technology, where he was vice president of marketing; Synopsys, where he was most recently general manager and vice president of the design verification business unit; Audesyn, Inc. and Bell Northern Research (now Nortel Networks). Dr. Girczyc holds a B.Sc.E.E. from the University of Alberta as well as M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from Carleton University in Ottawa.

About 0-In
0-In Design Automation, Inc. (pronounced "zero-in") develops and supports functional verification products that help verify multi-million gate application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and system-on-chip (SoC) designs. Five of the six largest electronics companies have adopted 0-In tools and methodologies in their integrated circuit (IC) design verification flows. 0-In was founded in 1996 and is based in San Jose, Calif. For more information, see http://www.0-in.com.

0-In® is a registered trademark of 0-In Design Automation, Inc.