MURRAY HILL, N.J. (March 10, 1999) -- Ansoft Corporation signed a licensing agreement today with Lucent, which will allow Ansoft to include Bell Labs patented technology for high-speed radio frequency (RF) chip design in its Signal Integrity products.

The new software - known as IES³ (Integral Equation Solver in three dimensions) - was developed at Bell Labs.

While previous RF design software worked for individual circuit components (capacitors, inductors and resistors) or small circuits, the new software handles much larger portions of a chip, including the complex interactions between the components. In addition, the software provides faster simulation of RF circuit components to verify whether the circuit will work before it is manufactured.

"Lucent's IES³ technology fills an immediate need for efficient analysis of high-speed circuits," said Ansoft founder Zoltan Cendes. "Integrating this technology into Ansoft's line of high-performance CAD tools promises an order of magnitude reduction in the time required to simulate large complex circuits."

Currently, it takes four or more design iterations to develop manufacturable RF chips within the industry, and each iteration requires two to three months. Using IES³, manufacturers should be able to produce RF chips on the first attempt.

"Reducing both time-to-market and design costs are very important in the highly competitive and exploding wireless electronics market," said Al Dunlop, who led the Bell Labs research team that developed IES³. The other researchers were David Long and Sharad Kapur.

RF chips are more complicated to design than digital chips because they operate at higher frequencies. These higher frequencies increase the levels of interference, noise and distortion. For these reasons, modeling, or verifying, RF circuits becomes even more critical, compared to digital circuits.

Ansoft is a leading developer of EDA software. Its products are used by engineers in the design of high performance electrical devices and systems, such as cellular phones, satellite communications, circuit boards, motors and anti-lock braking systems (ABS). Ansoft markets its products worldwide through its direct sales force and distributors, and provides comprehensive customer support and training. Ansoft customers include leading electronics, telecommunications, and automotive companies. For further information on Ansoft Corporation, visit Ansoft's web site at <http://www.ansoft.com>.

For more information about IES³, including graphics and technical papers, visit <http://www.bell-labs.com/project/IES3/>.

This information is based on a press release written by Steve Eisenberg of Bell Labs Media Relations.