Synopsys Partners with Airbus to Develop New Saber RT Simulation Tool for Aircraft Systems

Saber RT Saves Time and Money in Simulation and Validation of On-Board Systems for the World's Largest Airplane

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 13, 2003 - Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS), the world leader in integrated circuit (IC) design software, today announced development of the results of a partnership with Airbus® to develop a new tool, Saber® RT, for the simulation of systems in the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger airplane. By leveraging Saber RT to perform interactive simulation of many systems including hydraulic components, Airbus has been able save significant prototype costs and speed time-to-production.

"Airbus evaluated multiple system-level simulation tools and decided to use the Synopsys Saber tool for designing the Airbus A380's hydraulic and other systems," said Didier Katzenmayer, manager of CAD support, electronics department at Airbus. "However, we also needed to be able to perform 'interactive' simulation, a function that Saber did not yet provide. Through our close working relationship with Synopsys, we were able to guide their development of an even more sophisticated simulation tool - Saber RT - that does everything we need. Saber RT offers the unique ability to simulate complex designs with physical components, speeding our entire design process and reducing the number of prototypes we have to build."

Traditionally, multiple hardware prototypes costing upwards of $10 million are needed to simulate the thousands of functions of large systems. For example, an airplane prototype must test everything from an overhead light to the landing gear and thousands of other functions. The hydraulic system alone can contain many components that require testing. Saber RT performs 'interactive' simulation, which behaves identically to an actual hardware component. This eliminates the need to build multiple components, and functions as a bridge from simulation to production, saving the time and expense associated with building prototypes.

"Airbus needed to see the real-time behavior of the A380's many on-board systems working together before building numerous system prototypes -- something they had never been done before," said Antun Domic, senior vice president and general manager for Synopsys' NAT business unit. "This posed a unique challenge that required a creative solution. Working closely with Airbus, the Synopsys team created a product that is capable of simulating the behavior of such complex hardware systems. The cooperation between Synopsys and Airbus exemplifies Synopsys' strength in partnering with customers to work on solutions that target their specific needs."

About Saber RT
Saber RT analyzes complete designs, from system-on-chip (SoC) designs to large systems, including electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, software-controlled systems, and other technologies. Saber RT can be used in applications within the automotive, aerospace and military industries, and others that require interactive simulation.

About Synopsys
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) is the world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for integrated circuit (IC) design. The company delivers technology-leading IC design and verification platforms to the global electronics market, enabling the development 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 http://www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys is a registered trademark of Synopsys Inc. Saber is a trademark of American Airlines licensed to Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective