Improv Systems Expands Board of Directors to Include Japanese Electronics Veteran Seiji Miwa

Business Wire, May 15, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BEVERLY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2000

Innovative Platform-Based Design Provider Adds Management Savvy,

Japanese Market Expertise to Help Leverage Large

Opportunity in Electronics Industry

Improv Systems(TM) Inc., a provider of configurable multi-processing platforms for embedded systems, today announced the addition of Seiji Miwa to its board of directors. Miwa is a veteran of the electronic industry in Japan and brings a wealth of management experience to the high-growth company. He joins lead investor Donald Weeden as well as company founders Cary Ussery and Oz Levia on Improv's board.

Miwa has nearly forty years of experience in the electronics industry. He is currently president of Magma Design Automation KK. Prior to Magma Miwa was chairman of Cadence Japan. Miwa has also held positions as vice president with Teradyne Japan and Crown Corporation. Prior to that he was with Torpe Corporation where he was responsible for the successful sales expansion of that company into the United States.

"We are extremely pleased and honored to have someone of Miwa's knowledge of the Japanese semiconductor and consumers electronics industries involved with Improv," said Ussery, who is also president and CEO of Improv. "He brings to us an important perspective as we continue to develop our understanding and penetration of the Japanese market."

Improv has developed a unique approach to developing high performance chips for embedded system applications. Targeting the market for complex chips that have demanding time-to-market requirements, Improv's PSA approach combines the performance and customization of ASIC design with the time-to-market advantages of a programmable solution - at significantly lower costs. It supports the most efficient design methodology available for true system-level design, leapfrogging today's still untested hardware/software co-design approaches. The Jazz PSA Platform is supported by a Java-based development system and an advanced compilation system providing system partitioning, memory allocation, code generation and optimization.

"The market opportunity for Improv and its technology is substantial, especially in Japan where there are many companies that would benefit from the advantage for platform-based design," noted Miwa. "I am excited to be in on the ground floor of such a dynamic, visionary company, and hope I can assist in bringing the type of success Improv has already experienced in the US and Europe to Japan."

About Improv Systems, Inc.

Improv Systems, Inc. develops and licenses configurable platform solutions for System-on-Chip. Improv's Jazz PSA Platform, which is a programmable, scaleable, and configurable multi-processor platform, is targeted to consumer electronics and telecommunications markets. Improv's solution extends beyond the hardware; it includes a complete tool suite to facilitate rapid, system level design and state-of-the-art compilation technology to efficiently map applications onto our PSA Platforms. In addition, Improv offers predesigned applications software components to jump start product development efforts. Currently the Improv technology is licensed by Philips Semiconductors and STMicroelectronics. Improv Systems has offices in Beverly, MA, Santa Clara CA, and Rochester, NY. Improv is headquartered in Beverly, MA (01915) at 100 Cummings Center Suite 343G and can be reached at 978/927-0555 or at http://www.improvsys.com.