Mentor Graphics Offers Complete Front-End Design Support for the Actel Axcelerator FPGA Family

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 2002--Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT - News) today announced complete front-end design support for the new Actel Corp. (Nasdaq:ACTL - News) Axcelerator family.

Axcelerator devices based on Actel's new AX architecture can deliver up to 500 MHz internal operating speeds for high-speed communications and bridging applications. Extracting this level of performance from devices ranging in density from 125,000 to 2 million system gates requires a comprehensive design tool suite that addresses design creation, simulation, and synthesis. Mentor Graphics offers a full suite of powerful FPGA solutions to exploit the powerful functionality of the Axcelerator devices.

"With the launch of the Axcelerator family, Actel is providing a tier of FPGA devices that can manage the high-speed functionality and intricate wiring requirements necessary in communication and networking systems," said Valerie Rachko, director of marketing, HDL Design and FPGA Solutions, Mentor Graphics. "We have worked closely with Actel throughout the development of the AX architecture to ensure that our customers can easily create, simulate, debug, and synthesize the complex designs required to optimize these powerful FPGAs."

Mentor Graphics front-end design support for the Axcelerator devices includes the HDL Designer Series(TM) tool suite for design creation, analysis and management, the ModelSim® tool for simulation and debug, the LeonardoSpectrum(TM) synthesis environment for synthesis and the FPGA Advantage® design flow for complete FPGA design flow support. In addition, Mentor's STAR-award winning Customer Support team is available to assist designers in maximizing the performance capabilities within the designs.

"Redefining the limits of FPGA speed, Actel's Axcelerator family, with the industry's highest internal performance, is designed to meet the high-speed requirements of today's communications and bridging applications," said Bryon Moyer, senior director of tools and technical marketing at Actel. "With the Mentor Graphics tool suite, designers are able to take advantage of intuitive and interactive design tools for developing leading-edge systems with our Axcelerator. We have also taken advantage of this by integrating the industry-leading ModelSim simulation tool into Actel Libero design environment."

About the Actel Axcelerator FPGA Family

Based on a 0.15-micron, seven-layer metal antifuse process, the Axcelerator family, with devices ranging in density from 125,000 to 2-million system gates, will deliver over 500 MHz operation and up to 100 percent resource utilization. Built upon Actel's new AX architecture, the Axcelerator family comprises several architectural advancements including an embedded FIFO controller, a fully fracturable SuperCluster, an embedded 64-bit PerPin FIFO, a scalable Core Tile structure and flexible clock structure. With 2-million system gates, the largest device in this five-member family, the AX2000, contains support for up to 339k bits of embedded SRAM and 684 user I/Os, up to 10,752 dedicated flip flops, eight global clocks and eight phase-locked loops (PLLs). Comprehensive support for Axcelerator includes the Actel Libero 2.2 integrated design environment, the Actel Designer R1 2002 software solution, the Silicon Sculptor II device programmer and an evaluation platform.

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 about $600 million and employs approximately 3,500 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.

Mentor Graphics, ModelSim, and FPGA Advantage are registered trademarks and HDL Designer Series and LeonardoSpectrum are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. Actel and Axcelerator are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Actel Corp. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

     Mentor Graphics
     Amy Malagamba, 503/685-7836
     amy_malagamba@mentor.com
     or
     Weber Shandwick
     Jason Khoury, 415/354-8395
     jkhoury@webershandwick.com