Novas Reports Continued Strong Growth in First Half 2000; Optical Networking and Broadband Access Design Applications Drive Sales of Novas' Debugging System

Business Wire, August 28, 2000

Business Editors/Technology Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2000

Novas, the leader in debug systems for complex chip designs, announced that sales more than doubled in the first half of 2000 compared with the same period last year. In addition, the company reported that more than 150 companies purchased the company's Debussy(R) Total Debug system during the first half of this year.

Broadband access and optical networking applications drove demand for Debussy during the first half. The systems-on-chip for these applications present special debug challenges: The designs are large; typically in the range of one million gates, they implement complex communications protocols, and they generally include at least one block of commercial semiconductor intellectual property such as a microprocessor.

"With the explosive growth of the internet and networking, the first companies to market with chips that work are the winners, noted Scott Sandler, CEO of Novas. "Our customers, the established leaders and high profile startups in communications and computing, tell us that Debussy reduces the debugging time for their complex systems-on-chip by 50% or more."

Novas Customers

Among the new customers that purchased Debussy in the first half of 2000 were Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD), Cereva Networks, Geyser Networks, Lantern Communications, Navarro Networks, ONI Systems (NASDAQ: ONIS), Pairgain Technologies (acquired by ADC Telecommunications (NASDAQ: ADCT)), Procket Networks, StarGen and Zaffire. Over half of Novas sales during the first half were the result of purchases from existing customers, including AMD (NYSE: AMD), Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Conexant (NASDAQ: CNXT), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HWP) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) among others.

About Novas

Novas is the leader in debug systems for complex chip designs. The company's Debussy(R) Total Debug system manages the design debug process for system-on-chip integrated circuits, dramatically reducing the time it takes to locate, isolate, and understand the causes of unexpected design behavior. Debussy increases designer and design team productivity during the time-intensive verification and debug phases. Novas has over two thousand systems in use at hundreds of customer sites worldwide. Novas is located at 2025 Gateway Place, Suite 480, San Jose, CA 95110. Phone: 408-467-7888, Fax: 408-467-7889, 1-888-NOVAS-38. For more information visit www.novas.com or send email to info@novas.com.

Debussy is a registered trademark of Novas Software, Inc. All other brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.