Mentor Graphics Announces Availability of Design Architect-IC to Speed Design Of Full Custom Integrated Circuits

WILSONVILLE, Ore., May 23 -- Mentor Graphics Corporation today announced the availability of Design Architect-IC(TM), a powerful and easy-to-use design capture tool. Design Architect-IC helps to significantly increase productivity while creating design blocks for system-on-chip (SoC) applications and other complex designs. Users are now able to enter large amounts of repetitive circuitry in a few pages of schematics and easily analyze or debug leaves of this circuitry from its top-level representation.

Design Architect-IC provides a high productivity and efficient front end to the Mentor Graphics® automated custom IC design solution, ICgraph SDL(TM). It employs a common database used to drive simulation and physical layout, reducing data conversion and improving the designer's productivity.

``We're seeing customer design teams accelerate their design process by 10x using our schematic driven layout solution,'' stated Ernie Koeroghlian, business unit director of the Custom IC Design division at Mentor Graphics. ``With our integrated custom IC design environment, we are continuing our commitment to deliver solutions to our customers that improve design productivity.''

Design Architect-IC enables designers and engineers to work with Mentor's advanced IC design tools to conceptualize, develop, simulate, verify, and produce the most challenging custom digital, analog and mixed-signal IC designs. It deploys Mentor's new functionality, entitled Function Blocks, which will enhance designers' productivity by enabling them to rapidly create hierarchy and repeat subcircuits and to allow users to view the details of the subcircuits in their schematics.

``The Function Blocks method found in Design Architect-IC is a key feature for AMD in our schematic design methodology. It allows us to repeat circuitry in an efficient manner and quickly view and analyze the functionality of a schematic,'' said Bruce Gieseke, senior fellow, circuit design group of Advanced Micro Devices California Microprocessors Division. ``Through this method we are able to condense a 30 page schematic down to one page.''

Design Architect-IC is part of the IC Station® IC design solutions which interface with Mentor Graphics' industry standard Calibre® physical verification and manufacturability tool suite, as well as the Mentor Graphics Analog Circuit Simulator Eldo(TM). Both solutions are fully supported by major foundries throughout the world, offering customers a complete solution with a proven history of customer satisfaction.

Pricing and availability

Design Architect-IC is now on Solaris and HP-UX platforms, and will be available for the Linux operating system on x86 PC-class computers which support the Linux (Red Hat 6.0) operating system in Q2 2000. Pricing will start at $15,000.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products and consulting services for the world's largest electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of $500 million and employs approximately 2,600 people worldwide. Company headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com .

NOTE: Mentor Graphics, Calibre, IC-Station are registered trademarks and Design Architect-IC, Eldo, ICgraph SDL are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Teresa Girod of Mentor Graphics Corporation, 503-685-1475, or teresa_girod@mentor.com; or Luis Lorenzana of Benjamin Group/BSMG Worldwide, 415-352-2628, or luis_lorenzana@benjamingroup.com, for Mentor Graphics Corporation.