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CriticalBlue Adds Venture Capitalist Lucio Lanza to its Board

9 February 2004

CriticalBlue, a start-up focused on delivering tools for accelerating software in embedded microprocessor applications has added well-respected venture capitalist Lucio Lanza to its board of directors. Lanza is managing director of Lanza techVentures which, along with a number of private US EDA Angels, recently invested in the $2 million round investment. The round was led by Pentech Ventures.

“Cascade, the technology developed by CriticalBlue has the ability to transform the flow from embedded software into accelerated embedded hardware transparently,” stated Lucio Lanza, managing director, Lanza techVentures. “The ease of use of this technology signifies the onset of a paradigm shift that is in direct response to the need of programmable silicon and the fast time-to-market pressures that complex SOC designers consider paramount to their success.”

Before founding Lanza techVentures, Lanza was general partner in U.S. Venture Partners and a consultant to CEOs of semiconductor, communications, and computer-aided design companies. He was also the chief strategist and leader of merger and acquisition activity for Cadence Design Systems. Previously, Lanza held executive management positions with several leading technology companies including Olivetti, Intel, Daisy Systems, and EDA Systems, where he was CEO.

“By becoming a Board Member, Mr. Lanza has signaled his belief in CriticalBlue’s vision that an implementation path to hardware from embedded software is critically needed and that our technology can deliver” stated David Stewart, CEO, CriticalBlue. “Mr. Lanza’s experience and active participation in CriticalBlue will add immense value in the development of the company. We are very excited to have him on board.”

“Lucio’s business acumen and deep knowledge of electronic design automation (EDA), semiconductor, and electronics technology are valuable new assets to CriticalBlue,” stated Simon Davidmann, board member, CriticalBlue. “The investment by Lanza techVentures and the US Angels into the round led by Pentech is a tremendous endorsement of the company’s team, strategy, and technology.”

About Lanza techVentures
Lanza techVentures of Palo Alto, Calif., is an early stage venture capital and investment firm for new companies with innovative technologies in the semiconductor and technical software markets. Mr. Lanza is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Artisan Components (Nasdaq: ARTI), and serves on the boards of Forte Design Systems, Hier Design, PDF Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDFS), and Pharmix Inc. He holds a doctorate in electronic engineering from Politecnico of Milano.

About CriticalBlue
CriticalBlue is focused on delivering tools for accelerating software in embedded microprocessor applications to key design houses and semiconductor vendors in the telecommunication, automotive and multimedia industries. The Cascade tool suite provides a broader range of implementation options within existing electronic design flows, as well as minimizing risk and development time. This is achieved by analyzing application software and automatically generating an appropriate co-processor, designed to accelerate tasks written for a general-purpose microprocessor.

CriticalBlue is headquartered in The Scottish Microelectronics Centre, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JF, United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.criticalblue.com.

For further information:

Pentech Ventures
Eddie Anderson
Tel: +44 (0)141 572 7303
Email: eddie@pentechvc.com

PR Representative
Maggie Wright Associates
Tel: +44 (0)131 446 0483
Email: maggie@mwa-scotland.com

David Stewart
Critical Blue
Tel: +44 (0) 131 650 7459
Email: david.stewart@criticalblue.com

Leslie Cumming
Skye Marketing Communications
Tel: +1 (503) 997 0994
Email: leslie@skyecommunications.com