FireBolt™, the EDA industry's first full-chip thermal analysis tool, nominated in EDA (Verification and Analysis) category

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. - February 16, 2006 - EDN magazine has selected Gradient Design Automation Inc. from a field of hundreds as a finalist for the 16th annual EDN Innovator/Innovation Awards. The company was nominated for its FireBolt™ full-chip thermal analysis tool, which gives IC designers a highly accurate 3D temperature map of the billions of objects in an IC, throughout the design process -- from silicon virtual prototyping to final sign-off - with realistic run times. With FireBolt, designers are able to use the actual temperatures in the chip throughout the design flow, understand temperature's impact on performance and reliability, and understand where they are over- or under-designing. Full-chip thermal analysis with FireBolt saves valuable design time, silicon area, and package cost; and reduces or eliminates silicon re-spin due to previously undetectable thermal-electrical problems. Never before have designers had access to detailed full-chip temperature information.

Instituted in 1990, the Innovation Awards honor the people, products, and technologies that have shaped the semiconductor industry over the past year. Nominees must demonstrate innovation that resulted in a significant advance in technology and/or product development over the past 12 months, and must have shipped in volume within the 2005 calendar year.

"We are honored to have FireBolt names as a finalist for the EDN Innovations Award," said Rajit Chandra, president and CEO of Gradient. "Before FireBolt was introduced in June last year, designers were assuming either that temperature was constant across a chip or that power hotspots were also temperature hotspots. This nomination is part of the continuing recognition that temperature gradients-and the ability to pinpoint all areas where gradients are high-- impact chip timing, power and signal integrity. "

In the next few weeks, EDN's worldwide audience of electronics engineers and engineering managers will use an online ballot to select the ultimate winners from among these finalists. EDN's editorial staff and the EDN Editorial Advisory Board also take part in determining the final winners. Visit www.edn.com/innovation to review each of the nominees and cast your votes. Winners will be announced at a ceremony on April 3, 2006 in San Jose.

About EDN/Reed Business Information Known as the "Voice of the engineer," Waltham, MA-based EDN serves the vital information needs of design engineers and engineering managers worldwide. The EDN franchise includes EDN, EDN Europe, EDNAsia, EDN Australia, EDN China, EDN Japan and EDN.com.

EDN is published by Reed Business Information ( www.reedbusiness/us.com) the largest business to business publisher in the U.S. and a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK and ENL) - a world-leading publisher and information provider operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business industry sectors.

About Gradient
Gradient Design Automation Inc. provides electronic design automation (EDA) software tools that solve problems due to temperature and power for nanometer-scale digital, analog and mixed-signal IC designs. The company, founded in 2003, is privately held. For more information, see www.gradient-da.com.


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Contact:
PR for Gradient - Cayenne Communication LLC
Linda Marchant, Email Contact, 919-451-0776