WILSONVILLE, Ore., April 23, 2014 — (PRNewswire) —  Mentor Graphics Corp. (Nasdaq: MENT) today announced that Alps Electric Co., Ltd., a leading global manufacturer of electronic components for mobile devices, home electronics, automotive vehicles, and environment/energy markets, has selected the Analog Characterization Environment product (ACE^™), which was previously a Berkeley Design Automation product, for characterization of its complex mixed-signal and sensor ICs.  Characterization is a critical part of the design and verification process as it ensures that the circuit meets its performance requirement under all operational, environmental and process conditions.

"We have stringent characterization requirements to ensure the high-quality of our power management blocks, including complex nests of corner and sweeps," said Kazuhiro Hirane, Section Manager, IC Engineering Department, Engineering Headquarters, Alps Electric Co., Ltd. "With the Analog Characterization Environment it is very easy to setup, run, and analyze results of complex characterization nests, enabling silicon-accurate and high-productivity circuit characterization with 5x-10x speedup over alternative approaches."

The Analog FastSPICE Platform (AFS^™) provides the world's fastest circuit verification for nanometer analog, RF, mixed-signal, memory, and custom digital circuits. Foundry certified to 20nm, the AFS Platform delivers nanometer SPICE accuracy 5x-10x faster than traditional SPICE and 2x-6x faster than parallel SPICE simulators. For large circuits the AFS Platform delivers >10M element capacity and the fastest mixed-signal simulation. For memory and other array-based circuits, AFS Mega delivers silicon-accurate simulation with >100M element capacity. For silicon-accurate characterization it includes the industry's only comprehensive full-spectrum device noise analysis and a high-productivity Analog Characterization Environment product —both of which deliver 5x-10x speedup over alternative approaches. Available licenses for the AFS Platform include AFS Circuit Simulator, AFS Mega, AFS Nano, AFS Transient Noise Analysis, AFS RF Analyses, AFS Co-Simulation, AFS AMS and ACE products.

"We are proud of our long-term association with Alps Electric, a leading global supplier of mixed-signal-rich electronic components," said Ravi Subramanian, general manager of AMS products in the DSM division, Mentor Graphics. "Alps Electric's decision to adopt the Analog Characterization Environment validates our focus on the creation of breakthrough technologies to help in the design of the next wave of semiconductor products."

About ALPS Electric Co., Ltd.
Since its founding, Alps Electric has supplied around 40,000 types of electronic component to over 2,000 manufacturers of home appliances, mobile devices, automobiles and industrial equipment, allowing us to identify market and technological trends. We deliver optimal product by responding quickly and appropriately to customer and market requirements. A current focus as we look to support the creation of a low-carbon, digital society is the development of power-efficient green device.

About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation 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 electronic, semiconductor and systems companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues in the last fiscal year in excess of $1.15 billion. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

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

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