Altera Stratix Devices Move to Production Status

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) today announced that the Stratix(TM) EP1S20 and EP1S25 devices have passed reliability tests and qualify for production status. Customers around the world ready to ramp their system-on-a- programmable-chip (SOPC) designs now have immediate access to both devices through Altera's distribution channels.

"We are pleased to be receiving production-quality versions of Stratix devices," said Dave Blakeney, vice president of engineering for Marconi's broadband routing and switching group. "Our design required large amounts of embedded memory, and Stratix devices were the only FPGAs that could deliver what we needed."

"Both the Stratix EP1S20 and EP1S25 devices are in-house and on our shelves," said Skip Streber, senior corporate vice president, Arrow Electronics. "Customer demand for Stratix devices has been unprecedented and we are happy to support the immediate availability of production volume for both these products."

Customers can visit the Arrow web site at www.arrow.com to place their orders today.

The first production units of the EP1S25 devices, with 25,660 logic elements (LEs) and 1.9 Mbits of embedded RAM, were shipped in September, only four months after initial availability of engineering samples. The Stratix EP1S20 devices, with 18,460 LEs and 1.6 Mbits of embedded RAM, are rolling out as production-qualified devices without going through the engineering-sample phase. The immediate move to production status for the EP1S20 devices is made possible by the scalability of the Stratix family's modular design architecture.

"Nearly every aspect of the Stratix rollout has been exceptional," said Steve Mensor, senior director of product marketing at Altera. "This has been our fastest product rollout, both in terms of the availability of engineering samples as well as the rate at which family members have been qualified for production status." To read what customers are saying about Stratix devices, visit www.altera.com/corporate/news_room/customer_quotes/cqt-index.html#stratix

Today, Altera is shipping five of the eight Stratix device family members. The sixth member, the EP1S30 device, will go straight to production status and begin shipping by the end of November.

Over the course of this quarter, Altera plans to transition the EP1S80 device from engineering samples to production availability. The EP1S10 and EP1S40 devices will move to production status in the first quarter of 2003, followed by the introduction of the EP1S60 devices directly into production status in the second quarter. Availability dates for both engineering samples and production versions of the Stratix devices are available on Altera's web site at www.altera.com/products/devices/stratix/overview/stx-overview.html.

About Stratix Devices

Stratix devices are based on a 1.5-V, 0.13-um all-layer-copper SRAM process, with densities ranging from 10,570 to 114,140 LEs and up to 10 Mbits of RAM. Stratix devices offer up to 28 digital signal processing (DSP) blocks with up to 224 embedded multipliers, optimized for DSP applications that require intensive data processing. Stratix devices support various differential I/O electrical standards such as the LVDS, LVPECL, PCML and HyperTransport(TM) standards, as well as high-speed interfaces, including the UTOPIA IV, SPI-4 Phase 2, SFI-4, 10G Ethernet XSBI, RapidIO(TM), HyperTransport and other interfaces. Stratix devices also offer a complete clock management solution with their hierarchical clock structure and up to 12 phase-locked loops (PLLs). More technical information about the Stratix device family is available at www.altera.com/stratix

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 www.altera.com

Safe Harbor

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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. HyperTransport is a trademark of the HyperTransport Consortium. RapidIO is a trademark of the RapidIO Trade Association. All other product or service names are the property of their respective holder.

     Editor Contact:
     Ami Dorrell
     Altera Corporation
     (408) 544-6397
     newsroom@altera.com