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Micro Magic, Inc. University Program
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Micro Magic Contributes to Education of Future IC Designers by Supporting Workshop for VLSI Design Educators at 37th Design Automation Conference

Micro Magic University IC Design Program Serves Leading Schools Worldwide Including U.C. Berkley, Stanford, University of Adelaide, and Penn State

Sunnyvale, CA - May 29, 2000 - Micro Magic, Inc. (MMI) today announced its support of the first annual Workshop for VLSI Educators at the upcoming 37th Design Automation Conference (DAC) in Los Angeles, California (http://www.dac.com). MMI will be providing its design software for the Workshop, and will coordinate the integration of software from other electronic design automation (EDA) vendors, including Avant!. MMI is providing this support at no charge as part of its worldwide University Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Program.

"The support of Micro Magic and other leading EDA companies is crucial for helping the world's universities educate and prepare the IC designers of the future," stated Dr. Mary Jane Irwin, Distinguished Professor, Penn State University. Irwin is the immediate past chair of DAC and an organizer of the workshop along with Vijaykrishnan Narayanan of Penn State University and Dr. Steven P. Levitan of the University of Pittsburgh.

The Workshop for VLSI Design Educators is a new highlight of DAC. The program affords a unique forum for VLSI educators, design tool vendors, and textbook authors to interact, share their thoughts, and improve the instruction of VLSI Design courses.

The Workshop will expose educators to new course materials and design tools to help them prepare future VLSI design engineers to better meet the challenges in industry. It will feature presentations by Jan Rabaey of the University of California at Berkeley, Wayne Wolf of Princeton University, Cherrice Traver of Union College, and Mark Santoro, president and CEO of Micro Magic. The event will also provide a three-hour, hands-on workshop on the use of Micro Magic software including its SUE design environment, MAX full-custom IC layout tool, MAX LS layout system, and MegaCell Compiler and DataPath Compiler products.

According to Dr. Jan Rabaey, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, U.C. Berkeley and vice-chair of this year's DAC, "EDA company university programs are very beneficial for helping educate future design engineers. MMI's university program is unique because of its deep support of the new VLSI Educators Workshop. It is also unique because MMI's software lets students truly focus on learning IC design by eliminating the use and integration complexities of typical EDA tools. That's because MMI's SUE design environment lets users create designs and run most any EDA software tool through a single, easy-to-use interface."

Dr. Dick Smith, director of customer service at Micro Magic, heads the company's University Program. He stated, "Initiating a new VLSI design course at a university can be a challenging task. MMI's top objective with its program is to assist universities in their efforts to provide the electronics industry with high-quality design engineers. MMI also benefits from supporting universities, as they are a great source of new engineers for the company's fast-growing design services business."



About The MMI University IC Design Program

The Program provides universities—at no charge—with MMI's EDA software for use in instructional and research projects. It has established a community of university-based users that share experiences, resolve problems, and provide mutual assistance in both software use and core teaching applications. The major objective of the program is to assist universities in their efforts to provide the electronics and EDA industries with high-quality design engineers. MMI University IC Design Education Program members currently include:

  • Illinois Institute of Technology
  • Michigan State University
  • Penn State University
  • Stanford University
  • Tufts University
  • Union College
  • University of Adelaide, Australia
  • Universita' di Brescia, Italy
  • University of Buenos Aires
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • University of Colorado
  • University of Delaware
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • University of Tennessee
  • University of Washington
  • University of Texas, Austin

For more information about the MMI University IC Design Program, call Kathy Hays at 408-414-7647 x203 or send e-mail to hays@micromagic.com.


About Micro Magic, Inc.

Founded in 1995, Micro Magic, Inc. is a chip solutions company whose charter is to deliver working silicon to the customer, on time and at speed. To do this, MMI offers advanced application software and expert services for creating high-speed ICs and systems-on-chips. Founded by expert IC design engineers, the company's products are developed from a superior foundation of design knowledge. MMI serves many segments of the electronics industry including embedded processor, graphics, networking, telecom, and computer. Micro Magic is a self-funded, privately held, and profitable company. For more information visit http://www.micromagic.com.

Micro Magic, SUE, MAX, MAX LS, MegaCell Compiler, and DataPath Compiler are trademarks of Micro Magic, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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