National Semiconductor Introduces New WEBENCH Online Design Environment for Audio Amplifiers

The WEBENCH Audio design environment supports a broad range of audio systems using amplifiers with output power ranging from milliwatts to 60 Watts.

  Examples of products available for design include:

  -- LM4811 Boomer(R) dual 105 mW amplifier for portable electronic headsets
  -- LM4890 Boomer 1 Watt amplifier for mobile phones
  -- LM4883 Boomer dual 2.1 W amplifier with stereo headphone functionality
  -- LM4780 Overture(R) 60 Watt stereo amplifier

In the WEBENCH Audio environment, an engineer can create the complete bill of materials, circuit schematic, power output analysis, heat dissipation analysis and heat sinking for a National Boomer audio amplifier in minutes. An engineer visiting National's website needs no prior experience with National's products to complete their system. They can leverage National's in-house audio expertise to select from devices with hundreds of electrical characteristics and architectures, creating an amplifier system design with high-quality audio sound under their specific conditions. As with all the tools in National's WEBENCH design suite, the WEBENCH Audio environment is available free of charge at http://webench.national.com/ .

"The WEBENCH Audio environment today allows users to create designs with over 50 National audio amplifiers, including our popular Boomer amplifier line," said Phil Gibson, vice president of National Semiconductor's Corporate Marketing group." These products represent National's most popular audio amplifiers and will be joined by other new and existing products over the next several months."

National's Unique Portfolio of Audio Amplifiers

Working with every major handset maker in the world, National Semiconductor is the leading provider of audio amplifier systems for the cell phone market. The company's line of Boomer audio amplifier products enhance and enrich the entire range of sound -- from voice, ring sounds and music -- that can be amplified in a mobile phone. National also manufactures Class AB and Class D mono and stereo speaker amplifiers, mono and stereo headphone amplifiers and audio subsystems for desktop and notebook computers, multimedia displays, portable electronic devices, as well as consumer stereo and home theater systems.

"National is the industry leader for quality audio amplifiers and subsystems and we have the broad portfolio to match," said Mike Polacek, vice president of National Semiconductor's Audio products group. "The WEBENCH design environment quickly guides the designer to a high-quality solution."

WEBENCH for Audio: A Seamless Suite of Online Tools and Resources

The design of audio products requires numerous calculations to be made and tradeoffs to be considered. National's WEBENCH audio environment vastly simplifies the task of comparing the performance of multiple devices in the same architecture, and the integration of the selected device into an overall audio subsystem. Overnight delivery is available on all of National's products with WEBENCH design capability.

The WEBENCH Audio environment is designed to work seamlessly with National's other WEBENCH tools, including the recently announced interactive product selector Solutions.National.com and National's online distance learning facility, Analog University(R). To try National's WEBENCH Audio environment, go to http://audio.national.com/ .

Over the past four years, National has developed several other online design tool breakthroughs for analog products, including WEBENCH tools for wireless, power and amplifiers. Today, the WEBENCH user community around the world has grown to more than 80,000 design engineers. Nearly 20,000 designs are created every month.

National's WEBENCH Audio design environment will be shown in National's booth #506 in Hall A4 at the Electronica trade show in Munich, Germany from November 9-12.

About National Semiconductor

National Semiconductor, the industry's premier analog company, creates high performance analog devices and subsystems. National's leading-edge products include power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers, communication interface products and data conversion solutions. National's key markets include wireless handsets, displays, PCs and laptops. The company's analog products are also optimized for numerous applications in a variety of electronics markets, including medical, automotive, industrial, and test and measurement. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $1.98 billion for fiscal 2004, which ended May 30, 2004. Additional company and product information is available at http://www.national.com/.

NOTE: WEBENCH, Boomer, Overture and Analog University are registered trademarks of National Semiconductor Corporation. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Kimberly Fehrt of National Semiconductor Corporation,
+1-408-721-7343, or kimberly.fehrt@nsc.com

Web site: http://www.national.com/