Mentor Graphics Earns Support Center Practices Certification for Fourth Consecutive Year

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 2003--Mentor Graphics Corporation announced today that its customer support division has been certified for the fourth straight year under the prestigious Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program.

Certification was achieved after extensive audits of the company's multiple support centers. In 2000, Mentor Graphics was the first electronic design automation (EDA) company to earn SCP Certification, and today remains the only EDA vendor with this certification. Achieving SCP Certification further demonstrates Mentor's commitment to providing consistent, high-quality support to its customers worldwide.

"Mentor Graphics is proud to be able to provide our customers quality support with average response times under five minutes. Our continued investments in call tracking and Web-based customer information systems, customized support options, and new support offerings enable us to offer this high level of support," said Tom Floodeen, vice president and general manager, customer support division, Mentor Graphics. "Our SCP certification, and the continuous improvement of our audit scores year-over-year, confirm the quality of our team's efforts on behalf of our customers, who consistently tell us we have the best response times in the industry."

SCP Certification is an internationally recognized standard that defines best practices for delivering world-class technology support. The program quantifies the effectiveness of customer support, establishes a foundation to build on existing quality processes, and provides a clear focus on measurable results. Certified organizations must demonstrate their continued commitment to high performance standards through annual re-certification audits. To confirm that Mentor Graphics met the requirements of the more than 100 business elements defined in the SCP Certification program, comprehensive on-site audits were conducted in several Mentor Graphics locations in North America and Europe.

"SCP certification quantifies the effectiveness of customer support based upon a stringent set of performance standards and represents best practices in the industry," said John Hamilton, President of Service Strategies Corporation, which is responsible for administering the SCP Certification program. "Mentor Graphics performance continues to demonstrate the company's dedication to delivering high quality customer support."

Award-Winning Customer Support

Mentor Graphics global customer support organization offers leading customer support solutions online, by phone and in-person. The company's full-service customer support Web site, SupportNet(SM), recently received the "Ten Best Web Support Sites" award from the Association of Support Professionals (ASP), making Mentor the first EDA company to win this award. Mentor's customer support division is the only five-time winner of the Software Technical Assistance Recognition (STAR) Award in the Complex Support category from the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA). This prestigious award recognizes companies that consistently provide a superior level of support for software used in high-end, mission-critical applications in fields such as engineering, science, telecommunications and other technical environments. For more information on Mentor's award-winning support services, visit www.mentor.com/supportnet.

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.

Mentor Graphics is a registered trademark and SupportNet is a service mark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Mentor Graphics 
             Leanne White, 503-685-1984                               
             leanne_white@mentor.com 
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             Emily Taylor, 503-552-3733                     
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