Altera's Industry-Leading Quartus II Software Now Available with Support For Cyclone Devices

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) today announced full design software support for the Cyclone(TM) device family, giving designers immediate access to the industry's lowest-cost FPGA family. Designers can now visit the Altera web site at http://www.altera.com to download the service pack 1 release of the Quartus® II version 2.1 software or the free Quartus II Web Edition software for full design, synthesis, place-and-route, and verification capabilities supporting the Cyclone device family.

"Quick and easy access to our design software gives developers a head start in their designs," said Peter Woo, director of software and tools marketing at Altera. "This reiterates our commitment to provide customers with both a cost and time-to-market advantage."

The free Quartus II Web Edition version 2.1 software including service pack 1 supports all members of the new Cyclone device family. With Quartus II Web Edition software, designers also have free entry-level design access to select members of all leading-edge and mainstream FPGA and CPLD families from Altera including the Stratix(TM), APEX(TM) II, and Excalibur(TM) FPGAs and the MAX® 7000 CPLD family.

The service pack 1 release of Quartus II version 2.1 software is immediately available and will be shipped to all current customers with a valid subscription using the Quartus II software for Windows, Sun Solaris, Red Hat Linux, and HP-UX operating systems. The advanced block-based design and timing closure methodologies supported by the Quartus II software simplify the task of implementing high performance designs in the low-cost Cyclone devices.

About Quartus II Design Software

Altera's Quartus II design software delivers superior designer productivity and supports system-level designs with features including LogicLock(TM) block-based design flow, advanced timing closure methodology, PowerFit(TM) and fast fit fitter technologies, support for multi-million gate devices, and integration with third-party tools. Quartus II software extends the user's scope beyond hardware by including a software workflow that offers C/C++ compilers and debuggers in a fully integrated development environment to support Altera's Excalibur embedded processor solutions. Quartus II software supports major operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, and Red Hat Linux version 7.1.

About the Cyclone Device Family

Cyclone devices are the industry's lowest-cost FPGAs. With densities ranging from 2,910 to 20,060 logic elements, Cyclone devices feature up to 288 Kbits of embedded memory and are based on a 1.5-V all-layer-copper SRAM process. Cyclone devices offer up to two phase-locked loops (PLLs) per device and a hierarchical clocking structure for extensive on- and off-chip clock management. Each device supports a variety of single-ended I/O standards such as LVTTL, LVCMOS, PCI, and SSTL-2/3. Cyclone devices have dedicated circuitry to interface with high-performance external single data rate (SDR) SDRAM and double data rate (DDR) SDRAM and FCRAM memory devices. For more information about the Cyclone device family, visit http://www.altera.com/cyclone.

About Altera

Altera Corporation is the world's pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property, and technical services, Altera provides high- value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide. More information is available at http://www.altera.com .

NOTE: Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, the stylized Altera logo, specific device designations, and all other words that are identified as trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other product or service names are the property of their respective holder.

CONTACT: Ami Dorrell of Altera Corporation, +1-408-544-6397, or newsroom@altera.com.