Mentor Graphics Announces Support for New Altera Cyclone FPGA Device Family

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2002--Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT), the leader in FPGA design solutions, today announced that its ModelSim® simulation and LeonardoSpectrum(TM) synthesis design tools will be among the first to support Altera Corporation's (Nasdaq:ALTR) new Cyclone(TM) field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device family.

Mentor's advanced solutions enable designers to target Cyclone device-based designs for price sensitive markets, including consumer applications such as digital television, DVD players/recorders and video displays and projectors.

"Mentor's immediate support for Altera's Cyclone devices underscores our joint commitment to providing our mutual customers with advanced solutions for their design challenges," said Anne Sanquini, vice president and general manager, HDL Design division, Mentor Graphics. "With the introduction of the Cyclone device family, we can now provide FPGA solutions for high-volume, price-sensitive applications that previously required the use of fixed solutions such as gate arrays and standard cells."

"Cyclone devices are half the cost of competing solutions, which dramatically expands the market for FPGAs," said Tim Southgate, vice president of software and tools marketing at Altera. "Mentor Graphics was one of the first EDA partners to provide support for Altera's high-performance Stratix device family and again is among the first to provide support for Cyclone devices. Mentor's broad and timely support continues to be very important to the roll-out of our new device families."

ModelSim Offers Industry-Leading Simulation

The Mentor Graphics ModelSim tool provides Cyclone device designers with leading-edge simulation technology allowing mixed-language and platform flexibility. ModelSim supports all FPGA libraries, ensuring accurate timing simulations. Coupled with the most popular HDL debugging capabilities in the industry, ModelSim delivers high performance, ease of use and outstanding product support.

LeonardoSpectrum Offers Excellent Synthesis Capabilities

The Mentor Graphics LeonardoSpectrum synthesis tool allows Cyclone device users to design in VHDL or Verilog using one synthesis environment. LeonardoSpectrum provides designers with advanced timing optimization, featuring its exclusive TimeCloser(TM) technology, push-button ease-of-use features and sophisticated design strategies. With these features, users can carefully control and optimize FPGA designs to meet their exact requirements.

About the Cyclone Device Family

Cyclone devices are the industry's lowest-cost FPGAs. With densities ranging from 2,910 to 20,060 logic elements, Cyclone devices feature up to 288 Kbits of embedded memory and are based on a 1.5-V all-layer-copper SRAM process. Cyclone devices offer up to two phase-locked loops (PLLs) per device and a hierarchical clocking structure for extensive on- and off-chip clock management. Each device supports a variety of single-ended I/O standards such as LVTTL, LVCMOS, PCI, and SSTL-2/3. Cyclone devices have dedicated circuitry to interface with high-performance external single data rate (SDR) SDRAM and double data rate (DDR) SDRAM and FCRAM memory devices. For more information about the Cyclone device family, visit http://www.altera.com/cyclone.

Availability

LeonardoSpectrum and ModelSim with Cyclone device support are available immediately. ModelSim runs on Windows® 98, 2000, NT and XP platforms. Supported platforms for LeonardoSpectrum include Windows NT, 98 and 2000, Solaris(TM) and HP-UX. LeonardoSpectrum and ModelSim can also be found in the Mentor Graphics FPGA Advantage® tool, which provides designers with a complete FPGA design flow including best-in-class design creation, simulation and synthesis capabilities. For more information and product evaluation, visit www.mentor.com/fpga.

About Altera

Altera Corporation is the world's pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property and technical services, Altera provides high-value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide. More information is available at http://www.altera.com.

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 3,700 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: www.mentor.com.

Mentor Graphics and ModelSim are registered trademarks, and LeonardoSpectrum and Precision Synthesis are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, the stylized Altera logo, specific device designations and all other words that are identified as trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

     Mentor Graphics
     Keri Spehalski, 503/685-1359
     keri_spehalski@mentor.com
      or
     Altera Corporation
     Ami Dorrell, 408/544-6397
     newsroom@altera.com
      or
     Weber Shandwick
     Mark Mohammadpour, 503/552-3734
     mmohammadpour@webershandwick.com