Barcelona Expands Product Distribution to Serve the Analog Circuit Market in Japan

Update: Barcelona has been bought by Synopsys

Newark, Calif., January 29, 2003 - Barcelona Design Inc., the leading provider of synthesizable full-custom analog circuit solutions, today announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Soliton Systems K.K. to provide sales and technical support in the Japanese market for Barcelona's analog circuit solution. Soliton is a leading high technology licensing and consulting firm in Japan with offices in several cities including Tokyo and Osaka.

Soliton will distribute Barcelona's Prado™ Synthesis Platform and the company's expanding portfolio of IP engines, including the Miro™ Class Clocking Engines and the Picasso™ Class Building Block Engines, both targeted at leading-edge CMOS process technologies.

"Barcelona has established its leadership in the Japanese market by offering the only true analog synthesis solution, combining circuits, technology and services to enable improved application-specific performance and analog flexibility," said Bob Johnson, executive vice president of worldwide field operations at Barcelona. "Barcelona's partnership with Soliton will enable us to extend the level of products and services provided to Japanese customers and to rapidly accelerate the adoption of our groundbreaking technology."

"Barcelona has experienced major customer acceptance in the Japanese market by offering compelling analog circuit technology. We share Barcelona's exciting vision of the future of the analog circuit industry," said Mr. Teruhiko Hayashi, managing director, LSI System Operation at Soliton. "By teaming with Barcelona, we can help drive the rapid growth of this revolutionary customization technology and bring unprecedented analog performance, optimization and flexibility to Japanese customers developing SoCs."

About Soliton Systems K.K.
Soliton Systems K.K. has been a leading high technology licensing and consulting firm in Japan since 1982. Today, they have over 460 employees throughout Japan who are focused in two primary areas. The network Operations business provides complete systems integration, valued added product development and support services serving the network communications needs of leading clients in Japan. Their LSI Systems Operations distribute and support leading electronic design automation tools, intellectual property, and technologies to the semiconductor and systems design customers. Soliton is headquartered in Tokyo with offices in Osaka, Sapporo, Yamagata, Makuhari, and Fukuoka. For more information, see www.soliton.co.jp.

About Barcelona Design, Inc.
Barcelona Design is the leading supplier of synthesizable full-custom analog circuits, offering unique semiconductor intellectual property complemented by powerful design technology. Barcelona was founded in 1999 by CTO Dr. Mar Hershenson and Stanford University professor Dr. Stephen Boyd as a result of their research on the application of convex optimization mathematics to analog circuit design. The firm's analog circuit solution enables electronics companies to implement complex intellectual property (IP) instances radically faster than ever before. The company has proven its technology with working silicon, and has demonstrated market acceptance of its innovative approach by winning key customers. Barcelona has secured financing from leading venture capitalists including, Crosslink Capital, Sequoia Capital and Foundation Capital. The firm is headquartered in Newark, CA. For more information please visit www.barcelonadesign.com.