Mentor Graphics Launches Precise-IP Vendor-independent IP Platform for FPGA Design

WILSONVILLE, Ore., September 3, 2009 — Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced Precise-IP™ — a new vendor-independent IP (Intellectual Property) platform as part of the Mentor Graphics® Precision® Synthesis product line. The platform includes vendor-independent configurable IP from Mentor Graphics and links to categorized third-party IP from leading vendors. The third-party IP was certified by the respective IP vendor to ensure high quality of results with the Precision Synthesis technology.

As part of a complete vendor-independent IP methodology, the Precise-IP platform contains a library of configurable IP for use with the Precision Synthesis solution. The easy-to-use wizard creates frequently-used synthesizable IP based on user parameter settings. The configuration parameters are then validated by a self-checking GUI to ensure configuration conformance. The IP cores are optimized for best quality of results (QoR) across FPGA families.

A comprehensive catalog of complex cores — such as processors, interface controllers, and application-specific cores — are provided by leading IP vendors and available for multiple FPGA families. Participating vendors of the Precise-IP Partner Program are ARC, ARM, Aeroflex Gaisler, CAST, Eureka Technology, Helion, IPextreme, Innovative Logic, and OptNgn. Mentor Graphics continues to add new configurable IP and new partners to expand its catalog of supported cores.

“Mentor’s Precise-IP is a big win for design engineers,” stated Gary Smith, principal of Gary Smith EDA. “Non-proprietary, commercial IP that is vendor independent gives the FPGA designer the freedom to select the device that delivers the best results.”

“An effective vendor-neutral design methodology requires vendor-independent IP to complement EDA design tools,” stated Daniel Platzker, Mentor Graphics FPGA division product line director. “With Precision Synthesis’ Precise-IP platform, designers can easily create widely-used IP and find high-quality cores from leading IP vendors, thus retaining the flexibility to retarget their designs to different FPGA silicon as the need arises.”

The Precise-IP platform is available within the Precision Synthesis product. For more information, visit the company website at: www.mentor.com/precision/precise-ip. You can also contact a local Mentor Graphics sales office, or call 800-547-3000 for specific product and pricing details.

Quotes from Mentor Graphics Precise-IP Vendor Partners

"We are pleased to be part of Mentor's Precise-IP Program. Through this initiative we can offer our IP customers a verified FPGA flow for validating and prototyping ARC’s sub-systems and market segments solutions in customers’ overall system architecture." Michael Lerchenmuller, Vice President of International Sales ARC, Inc.

“The ARM® Cortex™-M1 processor is the first ARM processor designed specifically for implementation in FPGAs and is therefore ideally suited for inclusion in the Precise-IP platform. The Cortex-M1 processor targets all major FPGA devices and includes support for leading FPGA synthesis tools, allowing the designer to choose the optimal implementation for each project.” Vivek Nagaraj, FPGA Program Manager ARM

“With Aeroflex Gaisler´s IP and Precision Synthesis, customers can efficiently achieve their design goals using the FPGA of their choice. We believe Mentor's Precise-IP Program brings the value of FPGA vendor independence front and center to the FPGA design community and we are happy to be a part of it.” Per Danielsson, Managing Director Aeroflex Gaisler AB

"CAST IP cores and Mentor's Precise-IP Program are a perfect match," said Newton Abdalla, vice president of IP for CAST, Inc. "We both give designers unmatched flexibility in IP and silicon, deep experience in developing and delivering products, and an extreme dedication to customer success that makes the difference in every design project." Newton Abdalla, Vice President of Intellectual Property (IP) CAST, Inc.

“With Eureka Technology’s IP and Precision Synthesis, customers can easily achieve their performance goals while using the FPGA of their choice. Both Mentor’s Precision Synthesis tool and Eureka’s system connectivity IP cores contribute great values to the FPGA design community and Eureka is very happy to be part of the Precise-IP Program.” Simon Lau, President Eureka Technology Inc.

"We are pleased to be part of Mentor's Precise-IP Program. This collaboration between FPGA vendor independent synthesis and IP providers is an important step in providing customers with greater flexibility in selecting the best FPGA device for their applications." Graeme Durant, CEO and Founder HELION Technology, Limited

"We are excited to be a part of the Precise-IP program. Through this initiative, Innovative Logic and Mentor Graphics can offer mutual customers an optimal, FPGA-neutral flow when implementing their high speed applications." Dinesh Tyagi, President and CEO Innovative Logic, Inc.

“Our business philosophy of providing process- and vendor-independent solutions is closely aligned to the Mentor Graphics approach. As one of Mentor’s first IP partners, we are realizing great success in this pre-verification solution enabling our mutual customers to achieve faster, higher-performance FPGA designs.” Rick Tomihiro, Vice President of Marketing IPextreme, Inc.

“OptNgn believes that vendor independence, libraries, standards, and compiler performance are important components of any FPGA design methodology. We are glad to participate in Mentor's Precise-IP program. By ensuring our IP libraries are supported by Precision, we can help our customers meet their design, enhancement and platform independence goals through using our DSP and mathematical libraries.” Alan Coppola, President OptNgn Software, Inc.

About Precision Synthesis
The Precision Synthesis product line forms the centerpiece of Mentor Graphics FPGA flow — the industry's most comprehensive vendor-independent solution for FPGA design. The Precision RTL Plus product offers breakthrough capabilities such as vendor-independent physical synthesis which provides industry-leading quality of results, automatic incremental synthesis to reduce the impact of late design cycle changes, and patent-pending functionality which enables the efficient utilization of architectural blocks. With advanced support for ASIC prototyping (support for DesignWare libraries, SDC constraints, gated-clock handling, etc.) plus advanced implementation and optimization techniques such as automatic mapping and inference of dedicated DSP and RAM blocks, the Precision Synthesis product is uniquely suited to handle today’s high-end FPGAs. In addition, the Precision Synthesis product features an award-winning design analysis capability, allowing designers to cross-probe between multiple views as well as to perform interactive static timing for rapid "what-if" analyses.

About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of about $800 million and employs approximately 4,425 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.