BusinessWire
October 20, 2003 05:00 AM US Pacific Timezone

EE Times Names Synplicity's Ken McElvain as One of the Semiconductor Industry's Top Influencers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 2003-- Synplicity's Chief Technical Officer Recognized for His Contributions in Semiconductor Development Technology

Synplicity Inc. (Nasdaq:SYNP), a leading supplier of software for the design and verification of semiconductors, today announced its co-founder and chief technical officer, Ken McElvain, has been selected by EE Times as one of 13 individuals who are influencing the course of semiconductor development technology. The EE Times' editorial staff considers Mr. McElvain as taking semiconductor development technology into realms that exceed the bounds set by the inventors of the transistor more than 50 years ago, and recognizes Mr. McElvain for his high achievement in the development of FPGA synthesis software. The article highlighting the top influencers is featured in a special supplement included in the October 13, 2003 issue of EE Times titled, "The Future of Semiconductors."

"It is a tremendous honor to be selected by EE Times as one of the industry's top influencers," said McElvain. "I am happy to have played a part in the remarkable advancements in semiconductor development technology that have contributed to the adoption of FPGA design, however, I believe the future holds even greater potential for advancements. With the increase in the complexity of programmable logic devices and the introduction of Structured ASICs, the need for even more powerful software design tools is becoming a requirement. My two areas of focus are to continue to innovate in FPGA design tools, and to ensure customers considering creating Structured ASICs have the best development platform possible."

About Ken McElvain

Mr. McElvain is a co-founder of Synplicity, which he started in 1994. He was the inventor and chief developer of the company's flagship FPGA synthesis product, Synplify(R), which has been used by thousands of engineers worldwide to design programmable logic. He is also a key contributor on Synplicity's other products, including ASIC synthesis and FPGA, ASIC and Structured ASIC physical synthesis. Mr. McElvain is also a primary strategist on new products and overall company direction. Before Synplicity, Mr. McElvain worked at Mentor Graphics Corporation for 10 years as the principal architect of the AutoLogic ASIC synthesis tool, which he started at Silicon Compilers, Inc. before the company was acquired by Mentor Graphics. He has a total of 24 years CAE and hardware design experience. Mr. McElvain's other accomplishments while at Mentor and Silicon Compilers, and previously at Hewlett-Packard, include advancements in: static timing verification, sequential ATPG, mixed switch and gate level simulation, early cycle-based simulation, extension languages and CPU design. He holds a BA in mathematics and BS in computer science from Washington State University.

Website: http://www.synplicity.com