MIPS Technologies Selects Synopsys' PrimePower For Power Analysis

PrimePower's Time-Based Power Analysis Delivers the Accuracy Required to Design Low-Power IP

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., November 13, 2001 - Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) today announced that MIPS Technologies has selected Synopsys' PrimePower for power analysis in its synthesizeable core design flow. PrimePower offers time-based power analysis with the accuracy required to design low-power intellectual property (IP). With PrimePower in its flow, MIPS Technologies is now able to analyze for power dissipation, and thereby reduce overall power consumption in its high-performance microprocessor cores.

The growing trend towards system-on-chip (SoC) design and smaller geometries has led to the prevalent use of complex IP - such as MIPS-based[tm] processor cores - in many designs today. With the increased densities and complexities of these SoCs, power dissipation has become a major concern. To address the concern, MIPS Technologies has added PrimePower to its flow to analyze power consumption. This analysis has enabled MIPS Technologies to locate and reduce excessive power in its IP and to enable its end customers with effective power management solutions that are now an integral part of the design flow.

"MIPS Technologies could not have achieved the detailed power analysis that we require without PrimePower," said Christian Folting, engineering manager for Physical Design & CAD at MIPS Technologies Denmark Development Center. "To ensure our processor cores consume less power, we needed a solution for fine-grain, time-based power analysis. PrimePower is the only power analysis tool on the market today that offers the feature set along with the level of accuracy we require." This became clear during the MIPS32[tm] 4KSc[tm] processor implementation based on the SmartMIPS[tm] architecture announced earlier this year for the global smart card market place. MIPS Technologies' recent tapeouts with PrimePower in the back-end flow generated very accurate data for optimizing power grid design for hard cores. It provides detailed analysis capability for worst-case scenarios as well as various relevant operating scenarios.

"Synopsys continues to invest in advanced power technology by partnering with companies like MIPS Technologies, who are leaders in low-power design," said Antun Domic, vice president of Nanometer Analysis and Test, Synopsys. "PrimePower is part of the complete low-power solution offered by Synopsys, which gives designers the clear advantage of designing for low power in conjunction with high-performance. We are very happy to see companies such as MIPS Technologies realize the benefits of having Synopsys' PrimePower in their flow to address the need for accurate power analysis in their design of low-power IP."

Synopsys Low-Power Solution

Synopsys offers a comprehensive low-power solution that is tightly integrated within the Synopsys physical synthesis flow. PowerArc® is a standalone cell library power characterization tool that generates libraries for use by PrimePower and Power Compiler[tm]. PrimePower is a dynamic, full-chip power analysis tool for complex multimillion-gate ASICs with comprehensive diagnostics and peak power analysis. Power Compiler is a "push-button" power optimization tool for RTL and gate-level designs. Together, these tools help designers complete the characterization, analysis and optimization required for low-power designs.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS), headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., creates leading electronic design automation (EDA) tools for the global electronics market. The company delivers advanced design technologies and solutions to developers of complex integrated circuits, electronic systems, and systems on a chip. Synopsys also provides consulting and support services to simplify the overall IC design process and accelerate time to market for its customers. Visit Synopsys at http://www.synopsys.com.

Synopsys and PowerArc are registered trademarks and Power Compiler is a trademark of Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.