Mentor Graphics Leads EDA Industry with Excellence in Customer Support through Worldwide SCP Certification, Enhanced Online Support and Improved Performance

WILSONVILLE, Ore.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Dec. 22, 2004— Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT) today announced its Customer Support Division has been certified for the sixth consecutive year under the prestigious Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program. In 1999, Mentor Graphics became the first electronic design automation (EDA) company to earn SCP Certification. This year it extended its certification to its customer support centers in Singapore, Taiwan, India and Japan, making Mentor Graphics the only EDA vendor with worldwide SCP certification.

"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. "In 1999, Mentor Graphics was the first EDA company to earn SCP Certification, and today, as the first company in any industry to be SCP Certified in Taiwan, India and Japan, Mentor Graphics continues to demonstrate the company's dedication to delivering high quality customer support around the world."

SCP Certification is achieved based on the results of comprehensive, annual on-site audits of the company's support centers. Customer support is evaluated on a benchmark of more than one hundred measurable elements in the 11 major categories including heavy emphasis on customer feedback, productivity tools, quality management and performance metrics.

Mentor's customer support organization tracks multiple performance metrics and conducts annual customer satisfaction surveys each year. Over the past three years, Mentor Graphics worldwide customer support organization reduced median response time to all customer service requests from ten minutes to just over four minutes. Since Mentor achieved SCP Certification in 1999, the results of the customer satisfaction surveys have improved steadily each year. In that time the number of customers who rate themselves as satisfied or very satisfied with Mentor support has increased more than 10 percent.

"SCP certification and technology advancements like the enhancements to the SupportNet KnowledgeBase, are part of our ongoing investment to ensure that we have quality training for our staff, consistent implementation of key processes and a focus on results for our customers," said Tom Floodeen, vice president and general manager, Customer Support Division, Mentor Graphics. "Now that our support centers in every region of the world have been recognized with the same high standard required for SCP certification, we can ensure that Mentor's global customers receive the highest quality of customer support in the industry."

Enhanced Search Capabilities

Mentor Graphics also announced it has enhanced its SupportNet Knowledgebase with improved search capabilities for more complete and accurate search results that are easier to narrow and to review. Customers now use a single search engine for the many kinds of content on SupportNet, for more complete search results. The search engine now recognizes specific industry and Mentor product terminology and abbreviations. For example, a user can put in the acronym "DFT" and the search engine will know to return "Design for Test" related results. Customers can get instant access to the most up-to-date solutions to commonly encountered design problems.

The Only 5 STAR Support in EDA

Mentor Graphics global customer support organization offers leading customer support solutions online, by phone and in-person. In 2003, the company's full-service customer support Web site, SupportNet, 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. More information on SCP certification is available at (www.scpcertification.com).

About Mentor Graphics Corporation

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 $700 million and employs approximately 3,800 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.

Mentor Graphics
Ry Schwark, 503-685-1660
ry_schwark@mentor.com
or
Weber Shandwick
Emily Taylor, 503-552-3733
etaylor@webershandwick.com