Atmel and port GmbH Announce Availability of Industry-proven CANopen Protocol Stack for Atmel ARM7-based AT91SAM7A Microcontrollers

Rousset, France and Halle, Germany – February 22, 2005 ... Atmel® Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductors, and port GmbH, a German communications software company, announced today an industrial-strength CANopen Protocol Stack for the Atmel AT91SAM7A ARM7-based microcontroller family with integrated CAN.

The CANopen Protocol Stack is fully compliant with the CiA standard DS301 V4.02. It may be used to implement network master, slave or mixed applications, using more than one CAN channel for controlling the CANopen network. In addition to standardzing communication objects, CANopen specifies application objects used in various device profiles. These device profiles guarantee a defined device behavior and provide interchangeability of CANopen devices. port provides extension modules for its CANopen Library to employ these profiles. Themodules make it easy to use the desired device profiles. Beyond the generic profile for digital I/O devices, additonal ones, including Safety-Relevant Communication, LSS Layer Setting Services or Flying Master for use in Maritime Applications are available.

The AT91SAM7A-series are members of Atmel's ARM® microcontroller family. They are designed for CAN-based networks, which have a significant presence in factory automation, machine control, communications, building automation, and medical devices and systems. The AT91SAM7A1 has a single CAN interface, three UARTs and multiple timers including support for PWM and input capture, making it ideal for CANopen peripheral devices. The AT91SAM7A2 has 4 CAN controllers targeting the network gateway function.

"Expanding the partnership for Atmel's 8051 and AVR microcontrollers to the AT91 Smart ARM product line demonstrates our long-term strategic relationship in industrial communication with port," stated Jacko Wilbrink Atmel's ARM Product Marketing Manager. "Their combination of software solutions, supported by engineering services including consulting, CANopen training or device implementation, as well as various CAN software tools, are a perfect complement to our AT91SAM7A microcontrollers."

"Providing and extending CANopen support for Atmel's microcontrollers, opens port more market opportunities in the industrial automation sector. The partnership with Atmel ensures a high quality software for our customers," comments Heinz-Jürgen Oertel, port GmbH's Genaral Manager.

Pricing of the protocol stack starts at €2500. For free Evaluation versions of the CANOpen Protocol Stack for Atmel's AT91SAM7A evaluation kits contact port.

Atmel and port will be exhibiting this technology at the Embedded World Show in Nuremberg Germany, February 22 - 24, 2005.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions. Focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere You AreSM.

About port

port is a German-based company established in 1990 which specializes in the development and support of real-time communications and control networks, particular the CAN protocol and the TCP/IP protocol family in industrial applications. Since then some considerable experience and know-how in industrial control applications have been gained. port has positioned itself to take full advantage of the rapid growth in the use of CAN- and TCP/IP-based protocols such as: DeviceNet, CANopen, Ethernet/IP or IDA.

Information

For additional information about port, visit http://www.port.de.

Additional Information:

Atmel's AT91SAM7A product information is available at: http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91/.

CANopen product information is available at: http://www.port.de/engl/canprod/sw_lib_atmel.html.

© Atmel Corporation 2005. All rights reserved. Atmel®, logo and combinations thereof, AVR® and others, are registered trademarks, and Everywhere You AreSM and others are the trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.