April 1, 2002 Release

David Edwards
Chief Operating Officer
Precience, Inc.
Tel: (301) 421-9054, Ext. 804
E-mail: davide@precience.com

Heidi Vantulden
Bluestone PR, Inc. 
Public Relations for Precience, Inc.
Tel: +1 (503) 524-9799
E-mail: heidi@bluestonepr.com 


PRECIENCE ANNOUNCES NEW INTEGRATION FOR MENTOR GRAPHICS EXPEDITION PCB LAYOUT TOOLS
Enhanced PCBNavigator Provides Expedition Integration and Enables Orcad Capture and DxViewDraw Users To Define Routing Constraints and Manage ECOs Bi-Directionally

BURTONSVILLE, Md., April 1, 2002 – Precience, Inc., a leading developer of electronic design automation (EDA) design-for-supply-chain solutions, today announced a new integration that delivers powerful support for Mentor Graphics Expedition™ PCB layout software. Working through the Mentor Graphics® OpenDoor^SM program,Precience™ enhanced its PCBNavigator® integration solution to enable Orcad Capture and DxViewDraw users to design for the Expedition PCB layout tool, defining routing constraints and managing engineering change orders (ECOs) bi-directionally.

Mentor Graphics Expedition PCB layout tools are the new standard in scalable tools for the layout, analysis, and manufacture of highly-complex PCBs. By working with our OpenDoor partners such as Precience, we are demonstrating our commitment to providing new customers with a path for adopting Mentor’s EDA tools,” said Doug Johnson, director of marketing, Systems Design Division, Mentor Graphics.

PCBNavigator 3.2 software is at the cutting edge of integration technology,” said Ahmed Khan, president and CEO of Precience.

By providing a common constraint database for Orcad Capture, DxViewDraw, and Expedition PCB users, constraints and design rules, such as those required to direct Mentor’s AutoActive® routing technology, can be defined. The new integration also provides these users the functionality needed to truly benefit from the power of the Expedition PCB Series layout tools.

About PCBNavigator 3.2 Integration Solution

The PCBNavigator 3.2 solution provides complete bi-directional integration between schematic capture tools and Expedition PCB Series layout tools. The design rule constraint spreadsheet editor enables rule passing for nets, pins, components and boards. Design integrity is maintained and synchronization with printed circuit board (PCB) ECOs (reference design, rules, etc.) is automated. ECOs can be easily read into Orcad Capture and DxViewDraw through automatic Swap file (.swp) generation. PCBNavigator 3.2 software is integrated at the database level with schematic and target PCB systems. The user can select comp/net/pin in the schematic editors and appropriate rules are highlighted automatically in the PCBNavigator spreadsheet (dynamic cross-probing link). The solution automatically checks the PCB ECO file and reports items that can be back annotated to the schematic design.

Price and Availability

PCBNavigator 3.2 software is sold by Precience and through the company’s worldwide reseller network. The product is priced at $1,995.00 for a single node-locked seat and is available immediately. Floating and site licenses are also available. The product is available on Windows 98/NT/2000. Interested users are encouraged to visit our Web site at www.precience.com/pcbnav and download an unrestricted license for a 15 day trial.

About Precience, Inc.

Precience is a leading worldwide developer of EDA design-for-supply-chain integration technology products including PCBNavigator 3.2, Obsolescence Manager and PartNavigator 2.0. Precience is a privately held company established in 1995 with corporate headquarters at 4040 Blackburn Lane, Suite 180, Burtonsville, Maryland, 20866. To learn more about Precience and its products, please visit the Precience Web site at www.precience.com.  For further information contact Precience at (301) 421-9054, or via e-mail at info@precience.com.

Precience, ahead of time, the Precience logo, PartNavigator, Design Supply Chain, Obsolescence Manager, and PCBNavigator are trademarks or registered marks of Precience, Inc. All other trademarks or registered marks are the property of their respective holders.