Syntill8 Ltd., technical experts in 8-bit microcontroller IP, today announced a reseller agreement with Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT). Under the agreement Syntill8 will sell and support Mentor's industry proven 8-bit microcontroller Intellectual Property (IP) cores. This collaboration provides continuation to those invested in this highly stable and widely used core by providing direct support, maintenance upgrades and product family enhancements. Syntill8's CTO is the original designer of the majority of Mentor's M8051 IP products.

Mentor's M8051 microcontroller cores have a long and successful deployment history. They have been licensed to dozens of companies for use in both ASIC and FPGA designs, and hold one of the largest market shares for 8-bit microcontroller IP due to their high quality and long-standing availability. The first product in this microcontroller family, the M8051, was first released in early 1992.

With 8-bit designs continuing to account for 40% of the total microcontroller market, 8051 technology has a bright future and continues to be one of the most widely used microcontroller architectures. As the standalone controller market matures, the 8051 is increasingly finding a new role for itself performing peripheral controller functions in complex multi-processor systems. Syntill8 microcontrollers are well suited for this new typical utilization.

"The key to successfully using third party IP is to obtain a high quality product in conjunction with exceptional technical support," said Caroline Beasley, Director of Sales and Marketing for Syntill8. "Our technical staff not only designed 75% of Mentor's M8051 product line, they have been directly supporting Mentor's M8051 customers for over a decade."

"The Syntill8 team has provided Mentor customers with outstanding support for years", said Aaik van der Poel, Mentor Graphics Continuing Engineering Division Business Unit Manager. "We are pleased to formalize our arrangement whereby Mentor can refer its M8051 customers to Syntill8 for support services. This agreement secures their 8051 investments with a path into the future with updates and upgrades when and if they are under active maintenance."

Availability

The Mentor Graphics' M8051 microcontroller cores and support services are now available from Syntill8. Stand-alone support contracts are directly available from Syntill8 to Mentor's M8051 IP customers. Standard deliverables include synthesizable RTL source code and testbenches in both Verilog and VHDL. Also included as standard deliverables are simulation scripts, example netlist, in-depth documentation, and example synthesis and DFT scripts for Mentor and Synopsys flows.

About Syntill8 Ltd.

Syntill8 creates and licenses reusable microcontroller, peripheral and interfacing Intellectual Property and provides consulting services to the semiconductor industry.