New Nucleus USB to RS232 Adapter Class Driver Added to Nucleus Product Family

MOBILE, Ala., August 18, 2004 - Accelerated Technology®, the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT), today announced a new class driver for the Nucleus® USB software, which provides Universal Serial Bus (USB) support for the Nucleus Real-Time Operating System (RTOS). The newly supported Nucleus USB to RS232 adapter class driver uses USB to RS232 converter hardware to connect an embedded USB host to legacy RS232 peripheral devices such as a terminal or modem phone. The Nucleus USB to RS232 adapter class driver is designed so that developers can speed their time to market and focus on adding value to their core product rather than writing the source code for the drivers themselves.

USB is a plug-and-play interface, traditionally between a computer and an add-on peripheral device, that is rapidly being adopted in the embedded market space. USB is replacing serial, most notably RS232, in many applications. This is creating compatibility problems. For example, a new personal computer (PC) may only support USB, but a user may wish to connect older peripherals that have only a RS232 interface to the PC.

The Nucleus USB to RS232 adapter class driver has been designed to work with USB to RS232 converter hardware to solve the aforementioned problem for embedded hosts. Therefore, this class driver allows developers building embedded USB hosts to directly access the RS232 only peripheral devices and applications via the USB to RS232 converter, without worrying about how the converter interface works. With this flexibility, the legacy RS232 peripheral systems can be easily and quickly migrated to USB to establish a direct USB data communication link with the USB host system. The Nucleus USB to RS232 adapter class driver has been released for use with the Nucleus USB host stack, which is both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 compliant.

Availability and Pricing

The Nucleus embedded software is licensed with source code and without royalty fees.  Available now, licenses for the Nucleus USB software start at U.S. $14,995 and licenses for the class drivers begin at U.S. $2,995. For more information, please contact Accelerated Technology at 800-468-6853.

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 $675 million and employs approximately 3,800 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/.

Accelerated Technology, the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics Corporation, is located in Mobile, Alabama with sales offices and distributors worldwide. By providing embedded systems developers with a focus on service, well-documented source code and industry-leading non-royalty-based Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) software including modeling software, prototyping tools, kernels, middleware and development tools. AT's suite of products shorten time-to-market and provide a complete solution for engineers.  For more information, please visit www.acceleratedtechnology.com.

Mentor Graphics, Accelerated Technology and Nucleus are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

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