EDA Company Honored for Key Contributions to Open Source Parser for Liberty™ Library Format

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., - July 26, 2006- Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS), a world leader in semiconductor design software, announced that Electronic Tools Company (also known as E-Tools), a leader in EDA (Electronic Design Automation) data interchange tools and services, has received Synopsys' sixth annual Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award for its key contributions to the parser for the open source Liberty™ library format. The Liberty parser developed by Electronic Tools Company is currently in use by over 50 EDA companies and 100 end-user companies.

Electronic Tools is a strong supporter of standards like the Liberty format, EDIF and XML. In 2000, Electronic Tools developed the first version of the Liberty open-source parser for use by the entire electronics industry. Over the past 6 years, Electronic Tools has consistently updated the Liberty parser, driven by extensions of the Liberty format and via enhancements from numerous Liberty parser users. The Liberty parser has greatly speeded widespread, high-quality use of Liberty in many commercial and in-house EDA tools, by offering a ready-made solution that ensures compliance to the standard and interoperability among other tools.

"We are honored to accept the Tenzing Norgay Interoperability Achievement Award for our technical contributions to the Liberty parser," said Antoine Bigirimana, president and CEO, Electronic Tools. "The goal of our interoperability work is to simplify and reduce the costs of EDA flow integration though standardization and integrated solutions. We are committed to providing our customers with cost-effective and highly flexible solutions for integrating, migrating, and archiving design data from various EDA platforms."

Liberty, the de facto standard in the EDA industry, was amongst the first to use an open source model for standardization. The standard has been adopted by more than 60 different vendors to provide the industry with a much-needed common library format. Currently, there are over 750 libraries available in the Liberty format, enabling accurate and comprehensive modeling of nanometer effects such as timing, noise, power, and test. Since its inception, Liberty has continued to evolve quickly including its latest enhancement, the Liberty Composite Current Source (CCS) modeling technology that is already seeing significant industry-wide momentum. The current version of Liberty can be downloaded at no cost via the Synopsys' TAP-in website: http://www.synopsys.com/partners/tapin/tapin_program.html.

When the Liberty format was provided through an open source channel, free to the industry, it provided a mechanism for use and evolution by a large community of users and developers. The transformation and adoption of the format thus increased geometrically as well as the rapid maturity and usefulness of the format. This led the way to adoption as open source became a key contribution to interoperability in EDA.

"Interoperability plays a key role in elevating designers to a higher level of productivity, just as the efforts of Tenzing Norgay, a Tibetan Sherpa who facilitated the first ascent to the top of Mount Everest," said Rich Goldman, vice president, Strategic Market Development at Synopsys. "Successful EDA interoperability is a collaborative effort and Electronic Tools has contributed to the movement with their interoperability work in several areas. Their important contributions to the Liberty parser are but one example of their work to bring open and effective tools to the EDA community. We congratulate Electronic Tools and on their receipt of this award and the interoperable solutions that complement the efforts of Synopsys and other companies that continue to push for even greater tool interoperability."

About Synopsys
Synopsys, Inc. is a world leader in EDA software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading semiconductor design and verification platforms and IC manufacturing software products to the global electronics market, enabling the development and production of complex systems-on-chips (SoCs). Synopsys also provides intellectual property and design services to simplify the design process and accelerate time-to-market for its customers. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in more than 60 locations throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at www.synopsys.com.

Synopsys is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Liberty is a trademark of Synopsys. TAP-in is a service trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Any other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.