Mentor Graphics Announces MAJIC JTAG Probe Support for Sigma Designs Secure Media Processors

WILSONVILLE, Ore., February 5, 2009 – Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced its MAJIC® Series JTAG Probes now support Sigma Designs’ SMP8650 family of Secure Media Processors, including the SMP8654 and SMP8655. Providing an intelligent connection between host-based development tools and the SMP family processors, the MAJIC probes allow developers to more quickly bring up, program, and debug target applications such as High Definition IPTV set-top boxes, video-on-demand (VoD) and voice over IP (VoIP).

The availability of a robust target connection, such as that offered by the MAJIC probes, is essential in the early product development phase when other drivers or standard network interfaces may not yet be functional. The probes provide a direct connection and visibility into the embedded processor core, otherwise obscured by cache, buses and other peripherals present in modern systems on chip (SoCs).

The Sigma Designs SMP8654/55 feature two processors--MIPS 4KEc and 24Kf--both accessible over JTAG connections. The choice of MAJIC model will depend on which stage of development the user is engaged in:

• MAJIC-MT supports concurrent debug sessions on both cores.
• MAJIC-LX supports a single debug connection to either core.
• MAJIC-LT offers the lowest price point, suitable for projects where the only requirement is production flash programming.

The MAJIC-LX and MAJIC-MT probes offer JTAG clock speeds up to 40 MHz for faster download. All MAJIC probe models support the prior SMP8634 processor and provide support for multiple debug environments, including various GNU GDB variants, also popular for MIPS and Linux development environments.

The MAJIC JTAG probes also include OpenDebug interface software supporting Linux and other development environments, as well as memory test utilities with standard test patterns, flash programming utilities and the MONice command line debugger. The MONice scripting language enables production scripts where a full debug environment is not desirable.

Availability and Pricing
Support for MAJIC probe for Sigma Designs SMP8654 and SMP8655 processors is initially available to new customers or customers with current support contracts. For more information and pricing for Mentor Graphics embedded solutions, please call 1-800-547-3000 or e-mail embedded_info@mentor.com

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 $850 million and employs approximately 4,450 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: www.mentor.com

Mentor Graphics and MAJIC 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:

Karel Rasovsky
Mentor Graphics
503.685.7814
karel_rasovsky@mentor.com

Sonia Harrison
Mentor Graphics
503.685.1165
sonia_harrison@mentor.com