Mentor Graphics Joins CE-ATA Group and Begins Storage IP Development Based on New 1.0 Specification

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2005 -- Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT), a leader in standards-based semiconductor intellectual property (IP), today announced the company has joined the Consumer Electronics-ATA (CE-ATA) Working Group, to help further develop the new CE-ATA storage interface standard.

The CE-ATA organization is focused on a lower cost implementation for storage devices targeting the consumer electronics market, with hard disk drive (HDD) demand estimated to reach over 380 million units by 2007 (a). Mentor Graphics(R) will immediately begin developing CE-ATA IP for System-on-Chip (SoC) designs attuned to the requirements of the exploding 2.5-inch and sub-2.5-inch hard disk drive market.

Based on its leadership in storage connectivity with offerings for both parallel and serial ATA technologies, Mentor Graphics will take an active role in the CE-ATA organization by defining the next level and range of features that complement and fully utilize the capabilities of the initial interface specification. The creation of the CE-ATA technology is important because it will allow product designers and silicon providers to replace a 20-year-old technology designed for personal computer applications with a vastly different technology needed for handheld consumer products that require on-board storage capacity. Consumer electronics, such as the Apple iPod digital music players, multi-functional cellular handsets, GPS navigation systems, personal video players, and PDAs, require innovative storage drives that are small, rugged, and consume low power.

The CE-ATA initiative fills the void in an industry that has lacked a disk drive interface specifically tailored to the needs of the handheld and consumer electronics market. Small form factor disk drive suppliers will aggressively strive to deliver end products that support the newly defined CE-ATA standard by the end of this year.

"There should be enormous support for CE-ATA as a much-needed, cost-effective interface standard in certain emerging non-PC market segments," said John Monroe, a research vice president at Gartner. "We predict that the vast majority of miniature hard disk drives used in personal digital audio players and other handheld devices will soon be configured with CE-ATA interfaces."

"As a result of high demand for CE-ATA based products, our storage IP head technologists are now on an accelerated product development schedule and will introduce new IP products in the fourth quarter this year," stated Jim Venable, storage IP business unit director for the Mentor Graphics IP division and member of the CE-ATA initiative. "Our product engineering plan will address requirements inherent to small form factor disk drives, including low pin count, low voltage, power efficiency, cost effectiveness, and integration efficiency."

The CE-ATA Organization

The CE-ATA Working Group was launched in September 2004 to develop a storage interface tailored to the needs of small form factor disk drives in portable consumer electronics applications. Visit www.ce-ata.org for more information.

Mentor Graphics Silicon-Proven, Standards-Based Intellectual Property

Mentor Graphics offers a variety of industry-leading, standards-based IP cores that are rigorously tested and validated to provide design teams with the most reliable cores in the industry. Mentor Graphics IP portfolio ranges from simple SoC building blocks, such as communications interfaces and microcontrollers, to an expansive offering of products for Ethernet, USB, Storage and PCI Express. To find out more about Mentor's intellectual property product offerings, visit www.mentor.com/ip.

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 over $700 million and employs approximately 3,850 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

Mentor Graphics is a registered trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

(a) Source: 2004 Gartner Market Focus: HDD Semiconductors 2003-2008