New Calibre Interactive Tool from Mentor Graphics Enables a Single Flow for Cell, Block and Full-Chip Verification.

Business/High-Tech Editors

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 4, 2001

Mentor Graphics Corporation, (Nasdaq:MENT), the leader in physical verification, today announced the Mentor Graphics(R) Calibre(R) Interactive(TM) tool.

Calibre Interactive enables designers to perform block and cell physical verification from within layout environments such as Cadence(R) Design Systems' Virtuoso(R). This provides the same integrated cell, block and full chip verification environment to Virtuoso users that has existed for the IC Station(R) tool users for years.

Interactive Verification Accessed from Industry Layout Tools

Accessible directly from the layout environment, Calibre Interactive brings unprecedented performance, capacity, functionality and ease-of-use to block/cell physical verification. It provides the block/cell designer interactive access to Design Rule Checking (DRC) and Layout vs. Schematic (LVS) checking and the ability to graphically debug verification results without leaving the layout environment. Designers invoke all three of these capabilities via a graphical user interface called directly from the layout tool's pull-down menus. Users designing analog circuitry and smaller cells and blocks where interactive verification is a requirement can easily adopt this methodology.

"Historically, Calibre provided our customers with a competitive advantage during tape-out through superior performance, capacity and ease-of-use," said Joseph Sawicki, general manager for the Calibre Business Unit. "The introduction of Calibre Interactive now allows our customers to deploy the power of Calibre for cell and block verification, and also gain the advantages of using a single, industry-standard, verification tool suite throughout their design cycle."

A Single, Industry Standard, Physical Verification Flow

Using the Calibre tool suite throughout the flow facilitates design integration and reduces design cycle time. With SoC design becoming more pervasive in the industry, most new designs incorporate a variety of full-custom, place and route, analog, memory, and mixed-signal design on a single chip. The Calibre tool set's design style independence enables it to efficiently verify any design without user intervention to optimize the rule file for different design styles.

Design cycle time reductions arise from three sources. First, Calibre Interactive is fully compatible with Calibre, allowing Calibre customers to make use of their already extensive inventories of full-chip rule files for block/cell verification. In addition, block/cell designers can now employ the extensive set of Calibre rules provided by Mentor's foundry partners, including Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, IBM, TSMC and UMC.

Second, using Calibre as their single verification tool suite for block/cell and full-chip tape-out allows Calibre customers to avoid the physical verification discrepancies that arise when different verification flows are used at multiple design stages. Customers save valuable time during full-chip tape-out, since physical verification errors within blocks are now manifested and corrected early in the design process.

Finally, CAD teams using Calibre Interactive now have only a single verification flow to maintain and deploy. This not only saves the time of scarce CAD experts; it also reduces training requirements for the team and ultimately enables a deeper level of tool expertise.

Pricing and Availability

Mentor Graphics will begin delivering Calibre Interactive in May 2001. Pricing begins at $80,000.

About Mentor Graphics Corporation

Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products and consulting services 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 2,850 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, Calibre and IC Station are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. Calibre Interactive is a trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.