Cadence Delivers on First Milestone in Kits Strategy

Cadence Kits to Address Key Design Challenges in Wired, Wireless and Consumer Electronics Segments

CDNLive!/SANTA CLARA, Calif. , September 12, 2005 --Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CDN) (Nasdaq: CDN) today announced the first offerings in its kits approach to addressing customer needs. The Cadence® AMS Methodology Kit enables analog mixed-signal (AMS) designers of wireless, wired and consumer electronics devices to achieve shorter, more predictable design cycles while creating reusable AMS blocks.

The goal of the Cadence kits approach is to simplify the application of Cadence technology and thereby shorten time-to-productivity. Customers can then focus their precious design resources on design differentiation rather than design infrastructure. Cadence kits address application-specific design challenges by combining a verified methodology, packaged in platform flows, with IP and consulting all demonstrated on a representative reference design.

"In line with Cadence's kits approach, Bosch made the move to Cadence's AMS design methodology and flows to address the challenges of handling increased silicon complexity within shorter, more predictable design cycles, while maintaining zero-defect levels of quality," said Dr. Peter van Staa, senior director, Methods Tools and Technologies, Automotive Electronics, Robert Bosch, GmbH. "These increased design capabilities and productivity, resulting from Cadence's silicon-accurate methodology and VCAD services for flow implementation, will be of key importance to Bosch going forward."

Built upon the Virtuoso® custom design platform with links to the Encounter® digital IC design platform and the Incisive® functional verification platform, the Cadence AMS Methodology Kit enables a more productive top-down, bottom-up design methodology. The components of this kit address the key productivity challenges which affect the predictability and risk of AMS design: namely fragmented analog, digital, and verification design processes; parasitic effects in AMS; multiple power supplies; and AMS design migration and reuse. This methodology is enabled by the new Cadence AMS Block Flow with Reuse and Migration, the Cadence AMS Top-Level Flow, and the Cadence Analog Driven Physical Implementation Flow, along with a Generic Process Design Kit and simulation setups.

"IBM's CMOS8RF has proven an ideal semiconductor technology for analog applications such as Bluetooth, LANs, wireless handsets and GPS applications," said Ken Torino, director, Foundry Products for IBM Systems & Technology Group "Now IBM's industry-leading Process Design Kits (PDK s ) will be compatible with the Cadence® AMS Methodology Kit, beginning with CMOS8RF, which allows IBM's Foundry customers to focus on their design problems by having access to Cadence's integrated methodology solutions."

The second kit offering announced today is the Cadence® Optimization Methodology Kit for ARM® Processors, which helps design teams enhance performance, power utilization, and area when designing with ARM cores and physical libraries. The results of the kit build on the long-standing alliance between ARM and Cadence to more tightly integrate the companies' products to meet customer market requirements.

"These kit offerings are reflective of our strategy of delivering higher levels of productivity tuned to our customers' end-product goals," said Ajay Malhotra, senior vice president of marketing at Cadence. "We started in Q1 2005 with the Cadence Virtuoso Wireless Flows. Customers can expect more Cadence kits in the near future in areas of wireless, networking and consumer electronics as Cadence moves to a more focused kits approach. With each Cadence kit, we focus on addressing key design challenges, reducing re-spins and increasing design productivity."

More information about the Cadence AMS Methodology Kit is available at http://www.cadence.com/Kits/AMS.

About Cadence

Cadence enables global electronic-design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software and hardware, methodologies, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, printed circuit boards and systems used in consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. Cadence reported 2004 revenues of approximately $1.2 billion, and has approximately 5,000 employees. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.