Mentor Touts Acquisition and Collaboration

January 11, 2012. Mentor Graphics Corp. has announced that it has acquired the Flowmaster Group, a provider of 1D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation software for system design. Mentor also announced the integration of Ecrio’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) device software with Mentor's Nucleus® Real Time Operating System (RTOS).

The Flowmaster 1D CFD allows for rapid engineering design of complex fluid flow network systems like water-cooled electronic racks, automotive vehicle thermal management systems, and aerospace fuel systems. This acquisition consolidates the position of Mentor Graphics as an EDA company moving into the adjacent computer-aided engineering (CAE) mechanical analysis space.

The Flowmaster Group is a Dutch owned, UK-based international organization with over twenty years experience providing thermo-fluid systems simulation software to the aerospace, automotive, marine, oil and gas, power generation, process, rail, and water industries. Flowmaster software is used by engineers to improve complex internal fluid systems from conceptual idea to finalized design. Flowmaster provides users with greater systems insight and foresight upfront of system development cycles significantly reducing the overall timescales involved.

The acquisition of Flowmaster complements the acquisition of Flomerics Limited by Mentor Graphics in 2008, a player in the general purpose, 3D multi-CAD embedded CFD and 3D electronics cooling thermal analysis sectors, and broadens the Mentor Graphics portfolio in the CFD space. The combination of the CFD software products and services from Mentor Graphics and Flowmaster, both targeted at engineers, designers, and analysts, is expected to provide a comprehensive set of upfront and concurrent CFD design tools. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are very excited about the technical expertise and industry leading solutions that Flowmaster adds to our mechanical analysis simulation capabilities,” said Erich Buergel, general Manager of the mechanical analysis division at Mentor Graphics.

“The acquisition by Mentor Graphics brings together two companies with market-leading pedigrees and a shared vision for design tools to provide the unique goal of real-time, 1D-3D CFD solutions and decision making” said Alan Berry, CEO of the Flowmaster Group. “Our two R&D teams and complementary industry strengths will accelerate our ability to deliver innovative simulation software technologies to our customers, thereby enhancing their product design and as a result their competitive advantage.”

Ecrio Collaboration for LTE

Mentor's collaboration with Ecrio leads to the availability of an IMS-based 4G SMS over LTE (IR.92 VoLTE-compliant) on-device networking stack for the Nucleus product. This technology makes it possible to run both SMS and VoIP services entirely on the baseband processor of a data device without needing to utilize the application processor, thereby increasing battery life and reserving application space for other device functions.

Ecrio’s 4G/LTE operator-certified technology powers the key functionality of IMS-based signaling and messaging within the Nucleus platform enabling lower cost, enhanced performance, and lower time-to-market for LTE connected devices.

“LTE has become the technology of choice for 4G deployments,” said Michel Gannage, founder and CEO of Ecrio. “Leading RTOS solutions such as Mentor’s Nucleus platform, enhanced with IMS and IR.92 VoLTE-compliant device software, will contribute to the acceleration of exciting new services on 4G/LTE Mobile Networks.”

“Mentor Graphics is delighted to be collaborating with Ecrio, a leader in delivering SIP/IMS device-side solutions, to rapidly enable key core communication protocols and functions within our Nucleus OS solutions for emerging 4G connected devices,” said Jan Klube, Nucleus product line director at Mentor Graphics' embedded-software division.

Mentor reports its Mentor Embedded Nucleus product is used in more than 2.3 billion mobile handsets.

Ecrio, www.ecrio.com.

Flowmaster Group, www.flowmaster.com.

Mentor Graphics, www.mentor.com/nucleus.