Mentor Graphics Announces the Availability of Calibre on the OpenAccess Database

WILSONVILLE, Ore., May 12, 2004 - Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) today announced that the Mentor Graphics ? Calibre? design-to-silicon platform is now integrated with the OpenAccess database. This integration marks a key milestone in the ongoing joint engineering development between Mentor and Cadence. The OpenAccess database is an important part of achieving full interoperability between design tools from multiple sources, allowing integrated circuit (IC) design teams to construct flows that best suit their needs.

The OpenAccess database enables a robust set of capabilities between the Calibre design-to-silicon platform, the Cadence Virtuoso platform and other tools running on the OpenAccess database. 

For example, designers can use the Calibre platform to Virtuoso platform integration to greatly improve the design flow for design creation and physical verification.  This integration delivers several key improvements to the flow.  These include the Calibre platform's ability to detect design rule checking (DRC) and layout versus schematic (LVS) violations as well as pinpoint potential design for manufacturability optimizations and automatically do the repair and optimization tasks.  In addition, the integration tightens the link between post-layout parasitic extraction and simulation to provide more accurate results that reveal timing or performance issues.  This improved flow streamlines many time-consuming tasks, and provides added efficiencies in data handling and data manipulation.

In the future, Mentor plans to extend the integration of the Calibre design-to-silicon platform to include incremental verification (only the parts of the design that have changed are re-verified), antenna checking, metal fill and additional design for manufacture (DFM) requirements.

"We're pleased to have completed our initial integration into the OpenAccess database, and applaud the work of the OpenAccess Coalition in their efforts to provide tight integration and incremental design flows using design tools and data from multiple sources," said Brian Derrick, vice president of corporate marketing, Mentor Graphics.

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 $675 million and employs approximately 3,700 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: http://www.mentor.com/.

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

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