Mentor Graphics Announces Winners of its 16th Annual PCB Technology Leadership Awards.

Business/High Tech Editors

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 19, 2002

Continuing its tradition of promoting and recognizing printed circuit board (PCB) designer excellence, Mentor Graphics Corporation announced the winners of its 16th Annual PCB Technology Leadership Awards at a banquet in coordination with PCB Design Conference West.

The longest running competition of its kind for PCB designers in the EDA industry, Mentor's Technology Leadership Awards is open to any designs created with Mentor Graphics(R) PCB solutions, including the Board Station(R) and Expedition(TM) design tools. This year the program attracted a record number of submissions from countries around the world, including Slovenia and Singapore, as well as the first-ever entry from Japan.

Industry-expert judges awarded design entrants in ten categories representing a wide variety of fields: Computer; Consumer Electronics; Data Communications; Industrial Control; Military/Aerospace; Telecommunications; Transportation; Wireless Communications; University and for Best Design Overall.

"Mentor Graphics provides PCB tools for leading edge design in a variety of industries," said Henry Potts, vice president and general manager, systems design division, Mentor Graphics. "Mentor Graphics is committed to the PCB designer community and our PCB Technology Leadership awards provide the opportunity to showcase the most innovative and talented designers worldwide."

This year's panel of judges included: David Michael Graff, president of the IPC Designers Council; Happy T. Holden, manager of Advanced Technologies; Cheng-Hua Ma, advisory engineer for Solectron Corporation; Mary Sugden, president of Copper Connection Inc. and Pete Waddell, president of UP Media Group, Inc.

"I'm pleased to be involved in this program that acknowledges and rewards today's PCB design innovators," said Sugden. "This year's competition was highly spirited with many cutting-edge PCB designs from around the world and a vast array of industries."

This year's Technology Leadership Awards winners for the Best Design Overall and best design for the Telecommunications category are Ms. Shahana Tanveer, hardware design engineer, and Mr. David Mills, principal PC designer, for Hughes Networks Systems. Tanveer and Mills' winning PCB entry is a Transmit Receive Mezzanine Module (TRMM) for a next-generation Packet Radio Channel Unit (PRCU) used for high-speed data communications. The TRMM was created using Mentor Graphics Board Station, Design Architect(R) and ICX(TM) tools. A digital design specialist, Tanveer earned her bachelor's of science degree in electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, and will complete her master's of science degree in electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins University this year. Mills is a Certified Interconnect Designer (CID), and has 30 years of experience at Hughes Network Systems, specializing in mechanical and electrical design.

"Winning the Best Overall Design category in the industry's preeminent competition is a tremendous honor," said Tanveer. "Not only does it make me feel all the hard work done in producing the TRMM has been rewarded, it also reinforces my dedication to develop state-of-the-art designs."

Mentor Graphics honored awards winners at a banquet Monday evening held at Mirassou Winery in San Jose, Calif.

     Mentor Graphics 2002 PCB Technology Leadership Award Winners:

Best Design Overall

Company Name:     Hughes Network Systems
Designers:        Shahana Tanveer and David Mills
End Product Use:  Transmit Receive Mezzanine Module (TRMM) for a
                  Packet Radio Channel Unit (PRCU).

Computer

Company Name:     APTIX Corp.
Designer:         Jeff Ausman
End Product Use:  Reconfigurable Integration and Validation System

Company Name:     Tech Source Inc.
Designer:         Ron Olgin
End Product Use:  Video Card

Company Name:     Hewlett-Packard
Designers:        Jim deBlanc and Sandy Gill
End Product Use:  14 Slot SCSI Disk Enclosure

Consumer Electronics

Company Name:     3Dlabs, Inc. Ltd.
Designers:        Scott Jeffreys and Mike Wright
End Product Use:  Professional 3D hardware accelerator

Company Name:     StorageTek
Designers:        Randy Bennett and Tony Kilwein
End Product Use:  Aurora 2.0 ICEBERG Disk Controller and Storage

Company Name:     Lexmark International Inc.
Designers:        Frank Woods and John Barnes
End Product Use:  X820e MFP (multi-function printer)

Data Communications

Company Name:     CET Technologies Pte Ltd.
Designer:         Jacqueline Moy Toal Neo
End Product Use:  PDA

Company Name:     Hewlett-Packard, Roseville
Designer:         Sandy Gill
End Product Use:  Ethernet Switch

Company Name:     OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd & OKI COMTEC, Ltd.
Designers:        Mr. Masashi Shigemori, Mr. Shigenobu Okawa, Mr.
                  Junichi Yamamoto, Mr. Shigemitsu Fujisawa, Mr. Msao
                  Izumi, Mr. Manabu Otsuka
End Product Use:  Video converter

Industrial Control

Company Name:     Caterpillar Electronics
Designer:         Glenn Ball
End Product Use:  GENSET Control Module

Military/Aerospace

Company Name:     Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace
Designers:        Knut Kjemhus and Ragnar Aas
End Product Use:  AIE - Actuator Ignition Electronics for the NSM Anti
                  Ship Missile

Company Name:     Saab Bofors Dynamics AB
Designers:        Bo Backman and Sune Hook
End Product Use:  Missile

Company Name:     SENER INGENIERIA Y SISTEMAS, S.A.
Designer:         Alfonso Pascual Gomez
End Product Use:  Military Project

Telecommunications

Company Name:     Hughes Network Systems
Designer:         Shahana Tanveer and David Mills
End Product Use:  Transmit Receive Mezzanine Module (TRMM) for a
                  Packet Radio Channel Unit (PRCU).

Company Name:     IskraTEL Electronics
Designers:        Brane Lipar and Gregor Polansek
End Product Use:  Media Gateway Controller

Company Name:     AcceLight Networks
Designers:        Patrick Drolet & Marc-Antoine Boutin
End Product Use:  Phonetic Service Switch

Transportation/Automotive

Company Name:     Caterpillar Electronics
Designer:         Terri Dumoulin
End Product Use:  Machine ECM

Company Name:     CIDEIN, S.L.
Designers:        Marcos Blasco, Vicente Buil, J.E.Castell, Ricard
                  Daura, Jose Gimenez
End Product Use:  Automotion

University

Company Name:     The University of Chicago
Designers:        Mircea Bogdan and Bill Ashmanskas
End Product Use:  Collider Detector at Fermilab

Wireless Communications

Company Name:     Optical Communications, Optisphere Optical Networks,
                  A Siemens Company
Designers:        Michael Warner and Marc Filion
End Product Use:  DWDM Network

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 more than $600 million and employs approximately 3,100 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, Board Station, and Design Architect are registered trademarks, and Expedition and ICX are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.