Mentor Graphics Platform Express is the First Platform-Based Design Solution to Support The SPIRIT Consortium's New Specification

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--May 2, 2006--Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ:MENT) today announced support for The SPIRIT Consortium's new 1.2 XML specification in the newest release of the Platform Express(TM) product. This latest specification from The SPIRIT Consortium includes a variety of enhancements designed to accelerate the design and verification of large system-on-chip (SoC) solutions and enable tighter integration among intellectual property (IP) and EDA tools throughout the design chain.

Platform Express v3.3.0 takes full advantage of the new specification's verification IP enhancements, providing a new set of generators that support 0-In(R) Checkerware verification IP as well as PSL and OVL assertions. The product also features direct links to the Mentor Graphics Questa(TM) verification environment, and provides a framework for enabling other verification formats.

"Mentor Graphics was the key developer of the core technology behind The SPIRIT Consortium's proposed specification. Since donating that technology, Mentor has continued to advance the specification by developing design tools that bring the benefits of the specification to the end user," said Serge Leef, general manager, System-Level Engineering Division, Mentor Graphics. "With this new version of Platform Express, Mentor is giving designers powerful verification options that promise to further increase the efficiency of RTL IP reuse."

Platform Express enables users to automate the creation of SoC designs from IP, documented through The Consortium's 1.2 XML specification, in minutes. Using the tool and its large number of sophisticated generators, SoC designers can rapidly create and verify their system designs by automating complex, error-prone design creation, IP integration, power domain creation, software generation, verification steps and a configurable build environment to enable easy design hand-off. Based on standards throughout, Platform Express is supplied in Eclipse plug-in format, enabling the tool to operate as part of a larger, customized, design environment.

The SPIRIT Consortium's specification uses XML to create a machine-interpretable IP databook that includes design information that software tools then use to automatically configure and integrate an IP block into a design. After several years of development, The SPIRIT Consortium states that specification 1.2 provides a complete platform for IP-based design and verification.

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 4,000 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.