Mentor Graphics Acquires FirstEarth for ECAD Analysis Capabilities
WILSONVILLE, Ore.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 8, 2003—
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT) today
announced it has acquired FirstEarth, a United Kingdom-based software
company specializing in the supply of analysis software for design of
electrical wiring systems used in automotive, rail and aerospace
markets. FirstEarth products are already integrated with Mentor's
broadly adopted Logical Cable schematic authoring tool and will be
available through Mentor's direct channel immediately. Terms of the
deal were not disclosed.
FirstEarth products will also be integrated with Mentor
Graphics(R) market-leading Capital Harness Systems(TM) (CHS) tool flow
to offer unparalleled coverage in the design and analysis of
electrical wiring systems.
FirstEarth was established in 1997 to develop and market software
to automate Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Sneak Circuit
Analysis (SCA) for electrical systems. The acquisition will further
expand Mentor's wiring-systems design package to embrace the
developing design analysis market. System designers face the
challenges of increasing design complexity in systems, with the need
to shorten time-to-market, reduce the number of physical prototypes,
and maintain and improve the quality, safety and reliability of their
products. The only way this can be achieved is through the use of a
wide range of automated analysis tools. Mentor Graphics has already
broadened the company's electrical wiring systems solution through the
CHS product suite, and this year launched the ECAD design solution
Capital(R) Logic(TM), further extending the suite's capabilities in
line with other CHS components such as the Capital Manufacture(TM) and
the Capital Factory(TM) product families.
"Specialized analysis tools have always been an integral part of
our CHS roadmap and with the Capital Logic product family now launched
the timing is perfect to add FirstEarth's unique product offering to
CHS," said Martin O'Brien, general manager, harness systems business
unit, Mentor Graphics. "We have maintained a close watch on reaction
to FirstEarth products within our customer base and believe they have
a great future with us," he added.
"We are all very positive about the prospect of our products
becoming part of Mentor's offering," said Nigel Hughes, managing
director of FirstEarth. "The products, including major FMEA (Failure
Mode Effects Analysis) and Sneak Circuit modules are a natural fit to
Mentor's tool flow and have an architecture extremely compatible with
CHS."
Hughes added, "FirstEarth has been working closely with Mentor for
some time now and this coupling of the product lines can only
strengthen both offerings. FirstEarth's products are immediately
applicable to current users of Logical Cable and soon to users of the
newly launched Capital Logic authoring tool."
About Capital Harness Systems
The Capital Manufacture and Capital Factory product families are
software components within the Mentor Graphics end-to-end Capital
Harness Systems (CHS) flow tools. CHS is a complete, end-to-end
toolset for complex wire harness creation, with software tools to
automate design through manufacture. The Capital Manager(TM) solution
at the heart of CHS stores and manages all data flows throughout the
entire design to manufacturing process. All CHS applications write to
and access data directly from this common repository.
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
$650 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 Capital Harness
Systems, Capital Manufacture, Capital Factory, Capital Manager and
Capital Logic are trademarks of Mentor Graphics. All other company or
product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their
respective owners.
Contact:
Mentor Graphics
Ry Schwark, 503-685-1462
ry_schwark@mentor.com
or
James Price, +44 161 926 1637
james_price@mentor.com
