WILSONVILLE, Ore. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — November 19, 2012 — Mentor Graphics Corp. (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced extensive enhancements to the Verification Academy, including the addition of the much anticipated Coverage Cookbook. The Mentor^® Verification Academy is the most comprehensive resource for verification engineers, and provides access to information and online training on advanced functional verification technologies.

NEW - The Coverage Cookbook - A methodology focused on effective coverage adoption

In functional verification, methodology is the bridge between tools and technologies, which creates a productive, predictable, and repeatable solution. This first phase of the Coverage Cookbook introduces a methodology focused on coverage that complements the Universal Verification Methodology (UVM), an industry standard verification methodology that has gained a significant following over the last several years. The Coverage Cookbook is a series of online linked articles designed to help you master the methodology and process required to effectively adopt a coverage-driven verification flow by providing:

• a foundation of understanding on the various types of coverage metrics available today, and how to effectively use them
• a repeatable process for creating functional coverage models distilled from a specification
• real-world examples used to demonstrate the functional coverage modeling process

“Our focus with the Verification Academy has been on building advanced skills and easy to adopt methodologies so that our customers can get the most out of today’s advanced functional verification techniques,” said Harry Foster, chief scientist for the Design Verification Technology division at Mentor. “Our UVM Cookbook is the most comprehensive resource available today, which provides the methodology necessary for effective constrained-random testbench adoption. We are now excited to announce a new cookbook we call the Coverage Cookbook, which introduces a systematic methodology for developing functional coverage models and coverage-driven processes.”

Verification Academy Enhancements

The Verification Academy, which currently serves over 13,000 members, was created to improve the learning experience and expand the understanding of advanced functional verification techniques by providing video training modules, interactive forums and methodology cookbooks and resources. To facilitate this process, the Verification Academy is continually improving its website to meet the growing verification needs of the user community. Recently, the website was completely redesigned to enhance its members’ accessibility to instructional content. In addition, the delivery performance of course video content was improved while using the latest video elements of HTML5 no longer requiring the use of Flash.

“I’m delighted to see the refined website as I feel it is very useful for verification engineers in terms of their day-to-day activities. I find myself visiting the website on a daily basis, reading forums and watching the videos,” said RaviVarma Kanumuri, verification engineer, L&T Infotech. “Overall, I’m very satisfied with the new changes, and look forward to seeing more updates on the latest verification do’s and don’ts for better verification.”

“Verification Academy is the best web site for learning UVM,” said Allen Shen, senior principal engineer – SoC Verification, Western Digital. “I’ve attended other training sessions on UVM, but they don't compare to this web site.”

About the Verification Academy

The Mentor Graphics^® Verification Academy is a first of its kind — unlike anything in the industry. Its goals are to provide the skills necessary to mature an organization’s advanced functional verification process capabilities. To this end, the Verification Academy provides a methodological bridge between high-level value propositions (related to advanced verification technology) and the low-level details (related to specific tool and verification language details). Visit http://verificationacademy.com/ to access the many training modules, cookbooks, forums and events and resources.

About the Questa Verification Platform

The Questa^® Verification Platform uniquely provides a comprehensive solution that addresses the SoC verification explosion with a platform comprised of advanced verification methodologies, high performance simulation, intelligent testbench automation, software/hardware unified debug, formal, CDC, low power, analog-mixed signal, VIP, a central unified database and automated analysis tools, as well as integrated flows with ESL and emulation.

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 of about $1,015 million. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

(Mentor Graphics, Mentor, and Questa are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.)