Altium launches highly efficient TASKING StarCore® DSP development toolset

SYDNEY, Australia - February 18, 2002 - Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) is pleased to announce the launch of the TASKING StarCore Software Development Toolset - a highly efficient set of embedded development tools for the StarCore Digital Signal Processor (DSP). In line with the strong popularity of the high-performance StarCore DSP architecture, there is a demand for a migration path to higher technologies using a common development environment. To meet this challenge Altium has today released a highly efficient TASKING StarCore development toolset that takes advantage of TASKING's many years of DSP C-compiler experience and popular, easy-to-use Embedded Development Environment (EDE). Apart from the superior efficiency, other advantages that TASKING's StarCore toolset will bring to developers include: full compliance with StarCore Application Binary Interface (ABI), fully compliant with International Standards Organization (ISO) C'99, extensive assembly rules checking, the powerful CrossView Pro debugger, a StarCore Instruction Set Simulator, and EOnCE On Chip Emulation support.

Based on feedback from its large DSP customer base, Altium has released a StarCore embedded development toolset specifically for high-performance DSP solutions featuring an impressive list of optimization techniques. "StarCore's DSP popularity for high performance applications has meant that we have had strong demand from our DSP customers for a software development toolset that not only excels in code generation performance, but also offers great versatility and ease of use that simplifies development of DSP C applications," says Stephan Paternotte, Altium's Product Marketing Manager for TASKING's StarCore products. "The TASKING StarCore toolset provides customers of Motorola's DSP563xx with a familiar development environment for all publicly available StarCore DSP derivatives, along with the most highly optimized code available."

"We are very pleased to see Altium launching its software development tools for the StarCore DSP architecture. It is clear that the availability of TASKING's expertise in DSP C-compiler and debugger technologies will contribute to StarCore's architectural success in the high-end DSP market," says Allen Hyman, Senior Strategic Marketing Manager for the StarCore Technology Center. "TASKING's robust embedded software development environment and CrossView Pro debugger is designed to help developers using StarCore DSPs get their products to market fast and works to benefit developers by maximizing StarCore's high-performance, networking capabilities, compiler efficiency, flexibility and power efficiency."

The TASKING StarCore toolset will offer an integrated software development environment that enables developers to take advantage of the complete range of StarCore derivatives. Consisting of a powerful EDE, C/C++/EC++ compiler, assembler, linker/locator, and debugger, the toolset will provide all the capabilities needed for application development from project management, editing, and program building to compiling, optimizing, and debugging.

Specifically designed for the high performance StarCore DSP architecture, Altium's TASKING StarCore compiler is as scalable as the underlying StarCore architecture itself: supporting SoC and ASIC implementations, the Variable Length Execution Set (VLES) instruction-set, and parallel-processing units. Due to extremely powerful optimization techniques, the TASKING StarCore compiler generates code that is fast as well as compact, enabling the highest execution speed at the smallest size. The TASKING StarCore compiler is ISO C'99 and StarCore ABI compliant and is tested for ISO and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) C conformance against authoritative validation suites, such as Plum Hall and Perennial in addition to industry benchmark standards and large real-world applications.

Another noteworthy feature of the TASKING StarCore toolset is extensive assembly rules checking. The StarCore Assembler is fully equipped to warn developers when the combination of instructions they wish to use is actually not supported by the architecture.

At the debugging level, TASKING's powerful CrossView Pro debugger will offer both basic and advanced debugging capabilities, such as I/O simulation, program performance profiling and graphical data analysis. The CrossView Pro Debugger provides developers with superior functionality and an easy-to-use interface that reduces time spent on testing and debugging.

Other superior features of TASKING's StarCore debugger are: the StarCore Instruction Set Simulator which allows developers to debug applications on the host platform even before the target hardware is available; and the StarCore On-Chip-Emulation (OnCE) which enables the debugger to communicate with StarCore devices directly, offering high quality in-circuit-emulation functionality at a low cost.

The TASKING StarCore toolset is another state-of-the-art design tool from Altium that breaks down the barriers to innovation and allows developers to take full advantage of the StarCore DSP architecture.

Availability
The TASKING StarCore Software Development Toolset v1.0 is now available for interested beta test customers. The official product release v1.1 will become available for PC/Windows and SUN/Solaris platforms in Q2/2002 and be priced at US$5390 for the complete C/C++/EC++/ debugger toolset.

Please visit www.tasking.com/products/starcore for more information on TASKING products and the TASKING StarCore Software Development Toolset. Alternatively, go to the contacts page on www.tasking.com for the details of your nearest Altium Sales & Support Center.

About Altium Limited
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), trading as Protel International Limited (ASX: PRI) prior to August 6, 2001, is a leading global developer and supplier of desktop electronic design automation (EDA) and embedded software design tools for the Microsoft Windows environment.

Since the Company's foundation in 1985 and its release of the world's first Microsoft Windows-based EDA tool in 1991, Altium has continued to apply the most advanced software design methods to provide powerful, easy-to-use and affordable design software to engineers and electronics designers worldwide.

Altium's current product brands include Protel, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker and CAMtastic!. These products offer tailored solutions covering a range of hardware and software design processes.

Altium is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and operates a number of sales and support offices in Australia, the United States, Japan and Europe - as well as maintaining a large reseller network in all other major markets. More information about the Company and its products and services may be obtained from our website at http://www.altium.com.

About StarCore
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the StarCore Technology Center is a cooperative research and development initiative between Agere Systems and Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, created to design next-generation digital signal processor (DSP) core technologies. The StarCore charter is to design high-performance DSP architectures, cores and development tools for the communications, consumer electronics, and transportation industries. For more information on the StarCore initiative, visit its Web site at http://www.starcore-dsp.com

Altium, Altium Total Support, Protel, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker, CAMtastic!, Situs and Topological Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited. All other registered or unregistered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners, and no trademark rights to the same is claimed.

Altium USA Media Contact
Janice Hughes
Hughes Communications, Inc.
15 Oak Tree
LaneLyme, CT 06371
USA
Telephone: +1 860 434 3782
Fax: +1 860 434 8136
Email: janice@hughescom.net

StarCore Media Contact
Allen W. Hyman
StarCore Technology Center
2100 Riveredge Parkway, Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30328
Telephone: 770-618-8522
Email: allen.hyman@motorola.com

Corporate Media Contact
Jessica Maxwell
ALTIUM LIMITED
Level 3, 12a Rodborough Road
Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086
Australia
http://www.altium.com
Telephone: +61 2 99757710
Fax: +61 2 99757720
Email: jessica.maxwell@altium.com.au