QuickSilver Technology Unveils Comprehensive Adaptive Computing System Platform for Developing Custom-Silicon Capability in Software

First Time Access to IC Source Code and RTL via Technology Pool Faster Time to Market; Lower Development Costs

San Jose, CA, January 26, 2004 – For the first time, OEM/ODM designers of high-performance computing products, including handheld, mobile, and wireless, will be able to simplify their system-onchip (SoC) design process in a complete and unified design environment that enables the development of custom-silicon capability in weeks or months versus years, as compared to conventional integrated circuit (IC) technologies. QuickSilver Technology™, the leader in adaptive computing technology, today announced an unprecedented, comprehensive design program that includes four components. First, the Adapt2000™ ACM System Platform (Adapt2000) is a revolutionary, all-software approach to incorporating the silicon capability of disparate, conventional integrated circuit (IC) technologies – ASIC, DSP, FPGA, and microprocessor – within a single IC, an Adaptive Computing Machine (ACM). Also announced today is QuickSilver’s Adapt2000 ACM Cooperative License that empowers designers with access to an Adapt2000 ACM Technology Pool. For the first time, developers have access to IC technology at the detailed source code and RTL levels, as well as all the necessary elements to complete an ACM-based system, from concept to production.

Thirdly, included in the Adapt2000 Platform is the Adapt2400™ ACM Architecture, the foundation for a new class of software-programmable IC that offers the best attributes of conventional ICs in a single chip – high performance, small silicon area, low power consumption, low cost, and architecture scalability and flexibility. The Adapt2400 ACM is the only IC technology that dynamically changes at run time to create the exact hardware needed for that moment in time.

Fourth, the Adapt2000 Platform also includes the InSpire™ SDK Tool Set, a new, all-software development system for hardware design. Designers gain powerful and unprecedented advantages by designing high-performance systems completely in software – immediate changes and updates, dramatically reduced development costs, and faster time-to-market, with the ability to focus more on innovating and developing value-added IP.

Dr. Nick Tredennick, analysts and editor of the Gilder Technology Report, stated, “QuickSilver’s approach to developing custom-silicon capability in software is a sea change in how silicon will be designed and used in the future. The ACM combines the flexibility of programming with the efficiency of application-specific hardware. With QuickSilver’s Adapt2000 development suite, programmers and chip designers can exploit this breakthrough in a way that complements and enhances standard engineering design methods, substantially reducing design time and cost.”

Jim Turley, principal analyst for Silicon Insider, stated, “QuickSilver's Adapt2000 ACM System Platform gets two thumbs up for its performance and completeness. While other companies have created new types of hardware or software tools, QuickSilver has developed the entire package, a whole design ecosystem that allows engineers and developers to solve thorny technical problems. QuickSilver’s adaptive computing has moved reconfigurable computing from an interesting technology into a usable product.”

“The cost of developing ASICs alone has moved beyond the point of viability for many companies. We’re offering a comprehensive design platform that changes the dynamics of how ICs have been developed for the past 30 years. With the Adapt2000 developers are still able to design customperformance ICs, but with more efficiency and the ability to rapidly modify and update designs,” stated Jaime Cummins, co-founder and chairman of the board, QuickSilver Technology. “Now with ACM technology, both large and small companies can afford to develop products with custom-silicon capability.”

ACM Cooperative License – Immediate Access to the ACM Technology Pool

An Adapt2000 Cooperative License is the mechanism that grants licensees immediate access to the ACM Technology Pool, which includes ACM RTL, verification suites and documentation, and the source code to compilers, assemblers, and other software tool modules and documentation. Licensees can use, enhance, and extend the ACM technology and IP. This unique licensing program also allows licensees to share and exploit a broad pool of common components, yet safely embed their proprietary IP without compromise or disclosure. Additionally, three pay-as-you-go phases enable developers to work at their own pace to evaluate and benchmark; explore, analyze and design; and finally move to completed product and production.

Jim Lipman, President of SemiView, stated, “The Adapt2000 license and technology pool is a unique way of achieving widespread use – an unprecedented and welcomed means to adopt new IC technology and design methodology in the semiconductor market.” Customer Applications

Dr. Peter Athanas, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech, stated, “Within our Configurable Computing Lab, we explore high-performance IC technologies that are programmable at run time for use in multi-mode radios. QuickSilver’s ACM architecture far exceeds the performance and capabilities of other ICs in this category. Their new design tool suite offers unprecedented features to eliminate the difficulties associated with hardware/software co-design.”

Shantanu Jha, vice president, Ittiam Systems, Ltd., stated, “We believe there is a significant market for ACM-based ICs since designing custom-silicon capability in software offers a high level of design flexibility. We’re very impressed with the architecture and the technical support from QuickSilver in the development of our ACM-based applications.” Ittiam Systems Private Limited, headquartered in Bangalore, India, is a technology product company singularly focused on digital signal processing systems in media and communication. www.ittiam.com

Gordon A. Campbell, president and CEO for CHIPS ag, stated, “QuickSilver’s ACM technology is revolutionizing IC computing, not only by changing the way we communicate and do business today, but also by enabling a whole new industry of products, applications, and services to give end users a highly efficient and more pleasurable computing experience. The advantage of receiving ASIC-class benefits by designing in software, enables tremendous flexibility and time-to-market advantages to hit key product cycles with the right feature set, thereby supporting a business model of higher margins for OEMs/ODMs.” Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, CHIPS ag, a QuickSilver licensee, develops ACM-based products initially focused in the high-growth multimedia market.

Adapt2000 ACM System Platform Components

The Adapt2000 provides a unique, all-software, unified design environment as an alternative to conventional IC design methodologies that require a complex hardware/software co-design process to develop high-performance SoCs, which have been traditionally assembled from a mix of RISC, DSP and custom ASIC technologies. Developers now have the ability to scale both hardware and software, based on proven and tested heterogeneous nodes that are connected by a homogeneous Matrix Interconnect Network (MIN). The software-programmable Adapt2400 ACM Architecture, which is dynamically configured at run time, currently includes four distinct node types that are scalable up to 32 nodes of computing power; the MIN; the node wrapper for embedding IP; a system controller and several external interfaces. SilverC is a high-level design language that abstracts away well over 60 percent of the overhead tasks, significantly reducing development time and costs.

Max Baron, principal analyst at InStat/MDR, stated, “Hardwired accelerators play an important role in today's ASSP chip designs, trading off reusability and development time to gain speed and reduce silicon real estate. QuickSilver’s ACM promises to reduce design time and risk by combining control processors with blocks of run-time configurable accelerator cores which can be used to fix bugs, upgrade functions, and extend a chip's reuse in additional products.”

Will Strauss, president and principal analyst of Forward Concepts, stated, “High-performance computing products of the future require a new breed of IC that changes its architecture on demand to perform numerous functions at high speeds, with low power consumption, and at low cost. QuickSilver's ACM is one of the most innovative and intriguing technologies I have seen in years, and promises to deliver these needed attributes. It could well be the disruptive technology that causes a true paradigm shift in processing technology and the way in which next-generation handheld devices will be designed.”

Price and Availability

Available immediately, an Adapt2000 ACM Cooperative License that includes the Adapt2400 ACM Architecture core and grants access to the Adapt2400 ACM Technology Pool is $300,000, USD. The InSpire SDK Tool Set is $50,000 per seat, USD. Detailed specifications and pricing are available from your regional sales office. QuickSilver Technology has a sales and technical support office in Shin- Yokohama, Japan. In the U.S and Europe, QuickSilver sells direct to OEMs/ODMs from the San Jose, CA headquarters. For product information, see www.quicksilvertech.com

Backgrounder

QuickSilver Technology is the leading developer of adaptive computing technologies for products requiring low cost, high performance and low power consumption such as handheld, mobile, and wireless products. QuickSilver offers an adaptive computing system platform, which includes the adaptive computing machine (ACM) architecture and a complete suite of development tools, that allows hardware to be programmed and updated using software. This comprehensive ACM platform enables designers to develop custom-silicon capability ICs in weeks or months versus years as compared to using conventional, point-product ICs. Ideal for any electronics product that requires high performance and low power consumption, adaptive computing provides OEMs and service providers with enhanced product development and business models for greater profitability. Founded in 1998 with headquarters in San Jose, CA, the company has development facilities in San Diego, CA; Seattle, WA; and an office in Shin- Yokohama, Japan. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.quicksilvertech.com; in Japan, www.quicksilvertech.co.jp Also see QuickSilver in Q1 and Q2 at ACM workshops at DesignCon, Electronica USA, and the Wireless Systems Design Conference.

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Trademarks: QuickSilver Technology, the QuickSilver Technology logo, InSpire SDK, Adapt2000, Adapt2400, SilverC, and SilverWare, are trademarks of QuickSilver Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.