SAN JOSE, Calif., April 28, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magma(r) Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of chip design software, announced today that Panasonic Corporation, one of the largest providers of consumer electronics products, standardized on Magma's FineSim(tm) SPICE simulator with scalable multi-CPU technology for verification of large analog IP designs. With FineSim SPICE in the production analog design flow, Panasonic designers have access to fast, accurate, high-capacity SPICE simulation technology that enables them to verify circuit performance of designs that previously were too large and complex to simulate. The ability to accurately predict performance of these large analog designs prior to manufacturing reduces the time and effort required for IC development and fabrication.

"Designing many different types of analog circuits requires very accurate SPICE simulations," said Dr. Shiro Dosho, senior staff engineer of the Strategic Semiconductor Development Center of Panasonic. "Because of their extremely sensitive nature, verifying complex analog designs typically takes several weeks with SPICE simulators, if they can be simulated at all. With FineSim SPICE, we have seen effective speedup compared with a conventional SPICE simulator, while simulating much larger circuits never before practical in SPICE simulation -- and we can verify our designs over multiple conditions."

"Leveraging Magma's Native Parallel Technology(tm) FineSim SPICE offers truly scalable multi-CPU performance and capacity while delivering silicon-accurate results," said Anirudh Devgan, general manager of Magma's Custom Design Business Unit. "This enables our customers to manufacture their ICs with confidence in meeting expected profit margins. We are pleased that Panasonic is standardizing on our technology for their most challenging consumer ICs."

FineSim SPICE: Fast and Accurate Simulation

FineSim SPICE is a SPICE-level simulation analysis tool that incorporates transistor-level simulation analysis capabilities for mixed digital and analog designs. FineSim SPICE is a full SPICE simulation engine with distributed processing that enables customers to simulate large-scale mixed-signal system chips at the transistor level. By providing increased speed and capacity while maintaining full SPICE accuracy, FineSim SPICE enables designers to simulate advanced circuits -- such as PLLs, ADCs (analog-to-digital converters), DACs (digital-to-analog converters) and gigahertz SERDES (SERializer/DESerializer) -- that they previously would not even attempt using slower traditional SPICE simulators.

About Magma

Magma's software for designing integrated circuits (ICs) is used to create complex, high-performance chips required in cellular telephones, electronic games, WiFi, MP3 players, DVD/digital video, networking, automotive electronics and other electronic applications. Magma's EDA software for IC implementation, analysis, physical verification, circuit simulation and characterization is recognized as embodying the best in semiconductor technology, enabling the world's top chip companies to "Design Ahead of the Curve"(tm) while reducing design time and costs. Magma is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with offices around the world. Magma's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

Magma is a registered trademark, and FineSim and "Design Ahead of the Curve" are trademarks of Magma Design Automation Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Forward-looking statements:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release including statements that FineSim SPICE provides better accuracy and faster runtime than other circuit simulation products, shortens turnaround time and reduces development and fabrication effort are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to Magma's ability to keep pace with rapidly changing technology, the company's products' abilities to produce desired results and Panasonic's decision to continue using FineSim SPICE. Further discussion of these and other potential risk factors may be found in Magma's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). Magma undertakes no additional obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

CONTACT:  Magma Design Automation Inc.
          Monica Marmie, Director, Marketing Communications
          (408) 565-7689
          
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