Mentor Graphics Announces Support for Actel's ProASIC Plus Devices

WILSONVILLE, Ore., AND SUNNYVALE, Calif., January 7, 2002 - - Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL), a supplier of innovative programmable logic solutions, and Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT), announced that the Mentor Graphicsll as TimeCloser? technology for rapid timing closure.

We are pleased to extend our partnership with Actel, a company on the leading-edge of flash-based technology for programmable logic, said Tom Feist, group director, synthesis marketing at Mentor Graphics. Users of Actel's new ProASIC Plus devices who incorporate LeonardoSpectrum into their design flow can rapidly develop high-speed communications designs running at optimal performance levels.

Mentor Graphics has worked closely with Actel to ensure our new flash-based ProASIC Plus devices receive the highest level of design synthesis and simulation support, said Bryon Moyer, senior director of tools and technical marketing at Actel. LeonardoSpectrum delivers performance-oriented features for our new ProASIC Plus device family, enabling designers to quickly and easily synthesize flash-based FPGAs while achieving high quality of results. This type of support is absolutely critical to designers looking to rapidly deploy communications and networking systems with ProASIC Plus devices.

About ProASIC Plus

The ProASIC Plus family, Actel's second-generation of flash-based FPGAs, consists of six devices ranging in density from 150,000 to 1-million system gates. The combination of a fine-grained, ASIC-like architecture and non-volatile flash configuration memory makes Actel's ProASIC Plus offering a strong ASIC alternative. The devices are live at power up, highly secure and require no separate configuration memory, all characteristics shared by ASICs. The ProASIC Plus architecture and design methodology supports popular FPGA and ASIC tool flows, reducing time to market and permitting designers to migrate easily between FPGA and ASIC solutions. As a result, Mentor Graphics customers can easily convert their ProASIC Plus designs to ASICs leveraging their existing LeonardoSpectrum design flow. New features include multiple phase-locked loops (PLLs), support for up to 198k bits of two-port embedded SRAM and 712 user-configurable I/Os, and improved in-system programmability.

Pricing and Availability

LeonardoSpectrum with ProASIC Plus support will be available in January 2002. The U.S. list price for LeonardoSpectrum Level 2 starts at ,950. TimeCloser technology is available in the Level 3 version of the product with U.S. list price starting at ,500. Supported platforms include Windows

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation 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 more than million and employs approximately 3,000 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: www.mentor.com. For information on Mentor Graphics synthesis products, please call (408) 487-7410.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is a supplier of innovative programmable logic solutions, including field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) based on antifuse and flash technologies, embedded-programmable gate arrays (EPGAs) based on SRAM technology, high-performance intellectual property (IP) cores, software development tools and design services. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Actel employs approximately 500 people worldwide. The Company is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ACTL and is located at 955 East Arques Avenue, Sunnyvale, California, 94086-4533. Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835). Internet: http://www.actel.com.

###

The Actel name and logo are registered trademarks of Actel Corporation. Mentor Graphics and FPGA Advantage are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. LeonardoSpectrum and TimeCloser are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corp. All other names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

For more information, please contact:
Mentor Graphics Contact Ry Schwark Mentor Graphics 503.685.1660 ry_schwark@mentor.com	Actel Contact Stephanie Mrus Porter Novelli Advanced Technology Division 408-369-1500 x26 stephanie.mrus@porternovelli.com