SANTA CLARA, Calif. - June 24, 2003 - To satisfy the demanding requirements posed by power budgets for a seemingly infinite number of configurable processors, Tensilica has chosen Sequence Design’s PowerTheater to analyze power early and often at the RTL stage.

“Given that many of our customers are building portable devices, low power dissipation is an important design goal,” according to Tensilica’s Himanshu Sanghavi, hardware engineering manager. “We began using PowerTheater to estimate power dissipation at the register transfer level (RTL). This proved to be extremely useful as we could do power analysis as soon as the RTL testbench was up and running, and well before gate-level simulations could be run. Further, since the run times are short, we can perform this analysis on a much larger set of configurations than before.”

Since selecting PowerTheater last year, Sanghavi said, the tool “has now become an integral part of Tensilica’s internal processor design flow.”

To acknowledge the contributions Tensilica has made to power-aware design, Sequence presented the company with its first annual “Powerhouse Design Award” at DAC earlier this month.

“As much as 80 percent of an IC’s power budget can be controlled at the RT level,” said Vic Kulkarni, president and CEO of Sequence Design. “In a world of mobile computing focused on sub-1 Volt design, Tensilica’s efforts to reduce power consumption in the early stages of the design process are exemplary.”

For additional details on Tensilica’s use of PowerTheater, go online: http://www.sequencedesign.com/images/success_stories/Tensilica-SuccessStory.pdf

About PowerTheater

With its ability to provide accurate RTL power estimation, precise gate-level power verification, and flexible power optimization to help minimize power early in the design cycle, PowerTheater reduces power as much as 40 percent or more in large designs, versus 5 percent to 10 percent for gate/synthesis-based tools. Typically, 80 percent of the power in these large and complex designs determined at the RTL stage or earlier, so any effective power analysis and design decisions must be made early, before synthesis.

PowerTheater provides the foundation for a comprehensive SoC power management methodology. Features include:

• Accurate RTL and gate-level, full-chip power analysis covering all major contributors to power dissipation
• “Zero-Sim” capability enables RTL design for low power without the need for a testbench or simulation
• Flexible and easy-to-use RTL power reduction advisor quantifies real power savings and tradeoffs
• Automated IP power modeling process
• Versatile graphical analysis environment lets designers assess options quickly and intuitively

PowerTheater enjoys considerable momentum in the marketplace with endorsements from users such as Tensilica, Ricoh, Samsung, Sun, and Amphion. In addition to its inclusion in LSI Logic's FlexStream Design Solution, it is integrated into IBM's Blue LogicT ASIC design system.

About Tensilica

Tensilica was founded in July 1997 to address the growing need for optimized, application-specific microprocessor solutions in high-volume embedded applications. With a configurable and extensible microprocessor core called Xtensa, Tensilica is the only company that has automated and patented the time-consuming process of generating a customized microprocessor core along with a complete software development tool environment, producing new configurations in a matter of hours. For more information, visit www.tensilica.com.

About Sequence

Sequence Design, Inc. enables system-on-chip designers to bring higher-performance and lower-power integrated circuits quickly to fabrication. Sequence’s power and signal integrity software give its more than 100 customers the competitive advantage they need to excel in aggressive technology markets, despite demanding complexity and time-to-market issues of nanometer design.

Sequence has worldwide development and field service operations. The company was recently named by Reed Electronics as one of the top 50 companies to watch in the electronics industry. Sequence is privately held. Sequence is a member of Cadence Design Systems’ Connections^TM and Mentor Graphics’ Open Door^TM partnership programs. Additional information is available at sequencedesign.com.