E*ECAD Offering Solution-Soft GDSII Compressor

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. -- February 28, 2003 -- E*ECAD, Inc. announced today that it has signed a distribution agreement with SolutionSoft Systems, Inc. Solution-Soft will now offer its GDSII compressor, gdzip, through E*ECAD's online sales channel using time-based licensing.

Solution-Soft's gdzip tool allows IC designers to significantly shorten their tape out cycle and speed time to market. The partnership with E*ECAD presents an innovative and affordable alternative, initiating gdzip availability to a much wider range of customers.

"Solution-Soft provides our customers with time saving compression technology that efficiently and securely compresses GDSII files for transfer to the foundry," said E*ECAD President, Richard Siemiatkowski. "E*ECAD is working to reduce our customer's tape out cycles, and Solution-Soft enhances the E*ECAD product line by offering more efficient and reliable compression technology, to ensure safe transfer of GDSII files."

"Solution-Soft's gdzip compressor was developed specifically for use in the semiconductor industry and we've seen tremendous value in this market." said Paul Wang, President of Solution-Soft. "Partnering with E*ECAD allows Solution-Soft products to reach an expanded range of customers in the semiconductor industry. E*ECAD's advanced licensing system provides users with access to our compressors online, through an economical pay-per-use model.

Compression Technology 

With the increasing size and complexity of IC designs resulting in ever-larger GDSII files, chip design houses are experiencing extensive transfer times and escalating transfer failures. File compression/decompression times are on the rise and storage requirements are expanding in tandem. Solution-Soft's gdzip typically compresses GDSII files to a volume 2 to 10 times smaller than any other available compression routine thus reducing the transfer time by a considerable 25% to 90%. Significantly reducing the size of transferred files also decreases the incidence of line failure or transfer error and avoids pricey bandwidth increases otherwise necessary to manage the movement of such substantial files.

Gdzip ensures file integrity by creating block-by-block checksums during compression that are used to verify that the decompressed file is identical to the original.

Availability  

Solution-Soft's GDSII compressor supports Solaris, HP-UX, Linux, AIX, and True64.

To lease gdzip by file size, on a monthly or yearly basis, or to purchase as a perpetual license visit www.eecad.com .

About E*ECAD   

E*ECAD provides EDA tools from both established and emerging companies with a variety of licensing options including pay-per-hour tool rental and subscription licensing. By offering a broad range of tools for creating tool flows E*ECAD decreases IC Design time-to-market, and it streamlines the customer/vendor interface by utilizing the Internet for tool procurement and delivery. E*ECAD is committed to providing value to customers by offering high-quality tools with an affordable pricing structure.

About Solution-Soft

Solution-Soft is the leading provider of Intelligent Data Optimization (IDO) solutions, which address the urgent need for automated management of data in complex networking environments. IDO solutions facilitate automated data selection, movement, and redirection that optimize high availability, storage scalability, and system performance. The company has developed robust data-management software solutions for corporate data centers and storage solution providers. Solution-Soft boasts more than 1,500 customers, including 3M, AT&T, Boeing, Cable&Wireless, French Telecom and UMC. Solution-Soft's market presence is bolstered by partnerships with Citrix Systems (NASDAQ:CTXS), FalconStor (Nasdaq:FALC), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sun Microsystems NASDAQ:SUNW).

Founded in 1993, Solution-Soft is privately held and based in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information, visit www.solution-soft.com or call +1.408.346.1400.

Contact:
Michael Morrison
Solution-Soft
408.346.1415