"As more designers adopt high-density, programmable ASIC alternatives, the development methodology becomes even more critical," said Saloni Howard-Sarin, tools marketing director at Actel. "Leveraging Libero in combination with our ProASIC Plus FPGAs provides designers with the software and silicon necessary to rapidly bring complex communications, networking, industrial and avionics systems to market faster."

"We are pleased Actel chose to include the industry-leading Synplify synthesis product in its comprehensive Libero design environment, and today we fully support Actel's ProASIC Plus FPGAs," said Jeff Garrison, director of marketing for FPGA products at Synplicity. "With the Synplify software's new high-performance timing engine and device-specific mapping technology, we are able to provide synthesis technology with extremely fast runtimes and the ability to synthesize high capacity designs, allowing designers to bring their complex FPGA products to market quickly."

"Working closely with Actel, the ModelSim Actel Edition was designed to both strengthen and fit seamlessly into Actel's design environment," said John Lenyo, director of marketing at Model Technology. "ModelSim provides the highest level of simulation support in Libero and now that support extends to the new high-density, flash-based ProASIC Plus devices. ModelSim features regression test support, powerful debug capabilities and superior memory utilization for simulating a broad range of designs."

Actel also announced that its Libero Silver and Platinum evaluation versions are available for the first time as free downloads from the Actel Web site, www.actel.com. Libero Silver offers tool support from entry to programming for Actel devices of 10,000 gates or less, such as Actel's eX family and the ProASIC A500K050. Libero Silver does not include simulation, but designers may use their own simulator without restrictions. The Platinum evaluation version includes all the integrated tools, functionality and power of the full Platinum version without the programming capability.

About Libero

A comprehensive design environment, Libero integrates industry-leading design tools and streamlines the design flow; manages all design, run and report files; and passes necessary design data between tools. Libero supports mixed-mode design entry input, giving designers the choice of mixing either high-level VHDL or Verilog HDL language blocks with schematic modules within a design. This capability is especially valuable for designers integrating intellectual property (IP) into complex FPGAs where time-to-market and productivity requirements are stringent.

Libero includes best-in-class tools such as Innoveda's ViewDraw(TM) schematic capture tool; SynaptiCAD's WaveFormer Lite test bench generation system; Mentor Graphics' ModelSim® simulation and design verification software; Synplicity's Synplify® 7.0.3 synthesis software; and Actel's Designer Series place-and-route software and Silicon Explorer verification and logic analyzer tool.

Pricing and Availability

The Libero tool suite is available in three versions: Platinum, Gold and Silver. Actel's Libero Platinum is a complete tool suite solution with unlimited design capacity and customer support. Libero Platinum is priced at $2,495. For users designing system-level devices of 50,000 gates or less, Actel offers its Libero Gold version. Libero Gold is priced at $995. The Libero Silver and Platinum evaluation versions are now available free of charge on the Actel Web site and may be used by qualified designers for one year and 45 days, respectively. For more information, please contact Actel.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is a supplier of innovative programmable logic solutions, including field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) based on antifuse and flash technologies and embedded-programmable gate arrays (EPGAs) based on SRAM technology, as well as high-performance intellectual property (IP) cores, software development tools and design services. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Actel employs approximately 500 people worldwide. The Company is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ACTL and is located at 955 East Arques Avenue, Sunnyvale, California, 94086-4533. Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835). Internet: http://www.actel.com .