Model Technology and Platform Computing Corp. Dramatically Increase Simulation Capacity for Server Farms

PORTLAND, Ore. and TORONTO----March 29, 2000-- Model Technology(TM), a Mentor Graphics company and the industry's leading supplier of HDL simulation tools, and Platform Computing, the global leader in application resource management, today announced a joint solution that dramatically increases simulation capacity in distributed computing environments.

The integration of Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF) software and Model Technology's ModelSim® simulator allows customers to maximize the capacity and utilization of their simulation farms--enabling both more simulation cycles per day and a better return on investment. By coupling ModelSim with LSF's job management software, designers can now easily construct and manage simulation farms with any number of workstations across multiple locations.

``The integration of ModelSim and LSF is a very natural process,'' says Phil Weaver, president and COO for Platform Computing Corp. ``Simulation is an ideal candidate for our technology, because customers need as many cycles as they can get. This combination maximizes the amount of simulation that can be extracted from any customer's environment and increases the value of every platform added to it.''

Custom features developed by Model Technology and Platform Computing exploit ModelSim's compressed checkpoint format. Because the compressed files are much smaller than traditional files, swapping and restarting jobs is much faster--increasing workstation utilization. Another custom feature automates the periodic checkpointing of longer jobs--ensuring that a system failure does not require a complete restart of the simulation.

``With this custom integration, both companies' support for UNIX, NT and Linux, and ModelSim's unique language-neutral licensing system, we now offer the most flexible and capable simulation farm solution for today's large designs,'' said John Lenyo, director of marketing for Model Technology.

About ModelSim

ModelSim provides single-kernel simulation and dual-language support for cutting-edge ASIC and high-end FPGA design on PCs, UNIX and Linux workstations. The Linux version of ModelSim enables customers to deploy high-performance, cost-effective simulation farms that will provide increased simulation capacity for system-on-chip (SoC) design verification. ModelSim's industry-leading price/performance enables companies to cost-effectively build simulation farms with ratios of up to 10 simulators per designer--greatly simplifying the management of simulation peaks and valleys during projects. And using ModelSim's unique Language-Neutral Licensing capability that permits either VHDL or Verilog simulation from a single license, companies can create completely reconfigurable simulation farms to handle any combination of IP and testbenches.

About LSF

Platform's LSF software suite is used to centrally control and manage distributed computing resources. The LSF Suite encompasses distributed load sharing and sophisticated job scheduling for heterogeneous Linux, UNIX and NT computing environments. LSF provides the workload management necessary to increase capacity and achieve maximum utilization of all computing resources.

The recently announced LSF 4.0 is a key enabling technology for compute-intensive EDA environments. Today, LSF has been adopted by market leaders such as Ericsson, Sun Microsystems and AMD as a way to create compute farms or clusters from their network of workstations and servers to deliver high quality products to market in less time. Using all these resources, companies can deliver a higher quality of service to designers by reducing the burden on individual systems.

LSF Professional Edition 4.0 includes the LSF analyzer product that allows users in computer and semiconductor design environments to create 'internal ASP' environments to allow charge-back and effective resources management of software licenses.

Pricing and Availability

The joint solution is available immediately by contacting either Platform Computing or Model Technology directly. LSF is available in the standard edition starting at $1,400 U.S. per CPU. ModelSim comes in a variety of versions tailored to fit a user's simulation needs with pricing starting at $4,495.

About Model Technology

Model Technology Inc., a Mentor Graphics Company (NASDAQ:MENT), is the industry's leading supplier of HDL simulation tools. Model Technology provides ASIC and FPGA designers with the latest in simulation technology regardless of the language (VHDL, Verilog or mixed-HDL) or platform (UNIX, Windows, Linux) used. With more than 40,000 licensed units sold worldwide, ModelSim is the most popular HDL simulator in the industry. For information on the nearest Model Technology representative or Model Technology products, call (503)641-1340, email sales@model.com, or visit www.model.com.

About Platform Computing

Platform Computing Corp. is a strategic partner for Sun, Cisco, IBM, HP, SGI and Compaq to enable some of the world's most creative companies to achieve better results by allowing them to harness the untapped potential of their people, products and processes. Platform's software solutions, LSF and SiteAssure Suites give both engineering and Internet environments unprecedented control over their mission-critical hardware, software and network resources. With Platform solutions, customers are able to bridge the worlds of networks, systems and applications, and realize higher availability and performance to achieve their business objectives. For more information visit http://www.platform.com or call 1-877-528-3676.

Model Technology and ModelSim are trademarks/registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company and/or product names are the trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:
     Benjamin Group/BSMG Worldwide
     Jeremiah Glodoveza, 408/559-6090
     jeremiah@benjamingroup.com
      or
     Model Technology
     Kari Aho, 503/526-1693
     karia@model.com
      or
     Platform Computing
     Tanya Pobuda
     tpobuda@platform.com