Mentor Graphics announces Catapult C Synthesis Accelerated Libraries for Xilinx High-Performance Virtex-5 FPGAs

WILSONVILLE, Ore., January 22, 2008 – Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) today announced an extension to its industry leading electronic system level (ESL) synthesis flow that enables users to implement even higher performance digital signal processing (DSP) hardware than previously achievable with Catapult for Xilinx devices. The new Catapult C Synthesis accelerated library for Xilinx 65nm Virtex-5 field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) features a pushbutton flow, delivering significant DSP Fmax performance improvements in the order of 50-80% over standard libraries.

The massive increase in processing power required for next generation compute-intensive applications such as wireless communication, video and imaging, and medical has created a need for much higher levels of signal processing performance. Mentor’s Catapult C Synthesis tool for Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGAs performs efficient mapping to the Virtex-5 hardware resources leveraging the XtremeDSP capabilities of the device. The result is designs that operate 50-80 percent faster than results previously achieved by any high level synthesis tool.

“With Catapult C Synthesis, designers are able to take advantage of significant productivity gains,” said Shawn McCloud, Product Line Director, High Level Synthesis, Mentor Graphics. “Through our close collaboration with Xilinx, we have extended Catapult’s ASIC-proven technology to better utilize the XilinxVirtex-5 high-performance FPGA fabric enabling an ESL synthesis flow that allows hardware designers to easily implement complex high-speed algorithms.”

"The Virtex-5 Accelerated Library for Catapult C improves user productivity by enabling easy access to DSP optimized features in Virtex-5,” said Steve Lass, Senior Director of Software Marketing at Xilinx. “Mentor’s Catapult C accelerated library takes the ANSI C++ description and synthesizes the design, taking full advantage of the DSP48E processing block in Virtex-5 FPGAs to build high performance and area efficient designs."

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 $825 million and employs approximately 4,300 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

Mentor Graphics and Catapult are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, please contact:
Larry Toda
Mentor Graphics
503.685.1664
larry_toda@mentor.com

Ry Schwark
Mentor Graphics
503.685.1660
ry_schwark@mentor.com