Altera Launches Free Embedded Processor Portfolio

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) today announced the launch of the Embedded Processor Portfolio, a collection of more than 100 embedded processor intellectual property (IP) cores targeting typical microcontroller and embedded processor applications. Developers can design and ship systems with the Embedded Processor Portfolio cores without paying any license or royalty fees.

The Embedded Processor Portfolio supports Altera's new low-cost Cyclone(TM) device family, giving designers of price-sensitive applications such as set-top boxes, printers, and high-end consumer digital applications an extremely cost-effective embedded processor solution. In high-volume applications, a 32-bit Nios® processor in a Cyclone device is less expensive than most discrete 32-bit microprocessors available today.

"The Embedded Processor Portfolio solidifies Altera's position as the industry leader in embedded configurable processors and eliminates the barrier to entry for designers interested in using Altera's Nios or Excalibur(TM) embedded processor solutions," said Joe Hanson, director of marketing and applications for Altera's Excalibur Business Unit.

Based on the Nios soft-core processor architecture and Red Hat's GNUPro Toolkit, the Embedded Processor Portfolio provides an industry-proven development environment enabling designers to start developing software today. Designers can also use the Embedded Processor Portfolio of cores to target select members of Altera's Stratix(TM) device family and Excalibur embedded processor solutions.

The Embedded Processor Portfolio CD-ROM also includes the free web edition of the Quartus® II development software, the SOPC Builder system development tool, and the OpenCore® Plus evaluation version of the Nios embedded processor. With the inclusion of SOPC Builder and other development tools and software, designers can customize any of the processors included on the CD-ROM for their specific needs and evaluate the Nios embedded processor.

"Using SOPC Builder, we were able to easily embed a Nios embedded processor into Altera FPGAs that perfectly matched our needs, profiling and benchmarking various algorithms for network route processing and forwarding," said Gautam Kavipurapu, chief technical officer and founder of IRIS Technologies. "The Nios processor gave us the flexibility to implement the algorithms in software, while the SOPC Builder tool allowed our designers to easily connect custom logic and implement performance-critical tasks in hardware."

Pricing and Availability

The Embedded Processor Portfolio CD-ROM is available today, free of charge. Designers can request the portfolio on-line at http://www.altera.com/processorportfolio . The CD-ROM contains the Embedded Processor Portfolio of 100-plus embedded processor cores as well as Red Hat's GNUPro Toolkit, required for software development. The Embedded Processor Portfolio cores targeting specific Altera devices can be used without license or royalty fees.

For more information on Altera's Excalibur embedded processor solutions, visit http://www.altera.com/products/devices/excalibur/exc-index .

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.