Accelerated Technology Announces Nucleus USB for Developing Peripheral and Host Embedded Systems Requiring Royalty-free USB Support

Embedded Systems Conference San Francisco 2003

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 21, 2003--Accelerated Technology(R), the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT), today announced the initial availability of Nucleus(TM) for USB which provides Universal Serial Bus (USB) support for the Nucleus(TM) Real-Time Operating System (RTOS).

This combination of real-time software makes it easy for developers to quickly create embedded systems that communicate over USB.

The Nucleus USB family consists of embedded software to host (or connect to) various USB devices, create USB devices, and drive USB hardware controllers. The family also includes optional USB-compliant class drivers that provide out-of-the-box solutions for common application requirements. These class drivers let designers quickly create standard USB devices. The drivers can also be used to immediately integrate existing standard commercial devices such as hard drives, printers and many other off-the-shelf USB devices into their embedded systems without additional programming. If a custom class driver is required, the creation is easy and straightforward, allowing designers to meet specific application requirements or simply upgrade legacy communication schemes to leverage USB's simplicity, ubiquity and cost effectiveness.

Nucleus USB contains both host and device components. Nucleus USB Host is used to develop embedded systems that have USB devices plugged into them such as set-top boxes, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, instrumentation, game consoles and personal digital assistants (PDA). Developers can use Nucleus USB Device to build USB devices that plug into these hosts such as joysticks, cameras, scanners and printers, hard drives and other storage media, routers and other communications devices, PDAs, phones and music players.

The Nucleus USB component is complete, fast, small and portable. It takes advantage of Nucleus services and runs on any system supported by Nucleus PLUS. Drivers will also be available for additional Nucleus components including Nucleus NET, Nucleus FILE and Nucleus GRAFIX.

"The introduction of Nucleus USB accelerates projects requiring USB support. Since Nucleus USB adheres to standards and is tightly integrated into the Nucleus RTOS, developers have very little programming to complete before they are talking to existing commercial USB hosts and peripherals," said Robert Day, director of marketing for the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics(R). "Nucleus software has always had a strong market presence where USB is prevalent. Our customers can now benefit from even more functionality to help reduce their development time."

Availability and Pricing

For more information, please contact Accelerated Technology at 800/468-6853 or info@acceleratedtechnology.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 $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.

Accelerated Technology, Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics Corporation, is located in Mobile, Alabama with sales offices and distributors worldwide. By providing embedded systems developers with a focus on service, well-documented source code and industry leading non-royalty based Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) software, AT's RTOS software shortens time-to-market and provides a complete solution for engineers. For more information, please visit www.acceleratedtechnology.com or email us at info@acceleratedtechnology.com.

Mentor Graphics and Accelerated Technology are registered trademarks and Nucleus is a trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Mentor Graphics/Accelerated Technology
             Jennifer Whiddon, 251/661-5770 ext 5032
             jennifer_whiddon@mentor.com
             or
             Mentor Graphics
             Suzanne Graham, 503/685-7789
             suzanne_graham@mentor.com