MiSPO Co., Ltd. Provides Real-Time Operating System Support Through Altera's Excalibur Partner Program

MiSPO's NORTi Version 4 Compact Edition RTOS Now Supports Altera's Nios Soft Core Embedded Processor

San Jose, Calif., and Yokohama, Japan, April 10, 2002 -- Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) and MiSPO Co., Ltd., a leading supplier of the µITRON specification-based real-time operating system (RTOS), today announced that it has joined the Altera Excalibur partner program. As a member of Altera's Excalibur partner program, MiSPO will now support Altera's Excalibur^™ Nios^® soft core embedded processor with its NORTi^® Version 4 Compact Edition RTOS including a high-performance, µITRON4.0-compatible real-time kernel and ITRON TCP/IP API-compatible protocol stack. The combination of Nios soft core embedded processor and MiSPO's NORTi RTOS simplifies the design process and improves time-to-market for embedded designers building system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions.

"Altera's Excalibur embedded processor solutions puts the power of SOPC technology in the hands of embedded designers," said Hisanori Miyazaki, president of MiSPO. "Combined with our NORTi RTOS, embedded designers can now enjoy the benefits of programmable logic as well as accelerated development cycles resulting from the RTOS."

Various middleware solutions from MiSPO, including supporting protocols such as PPP, SNMP, POP3/SMTP and HTTP will be available soon for the Nios soft core embedded processor. MiSPO plans to provide NORTi Version 4 and middleware support for Altera's ARM^®-based Excalibur embedded processor solutions in mid 2002.

"Operating systems are a key component in providing embedded designers with a complete embedded processor solution," said Joe Hanson, director of marketing and applications for Altera's Excalibur business unit. "As a member of our Excalibur partner program, embedded designers will now have access to MiSPO's popular RTOS, a viable choice for designers developing Excalibur embedded processor solutions."

Through the Excalibur partner program, Altera is bringing together industry leaders that offer operating systems, embedded software development tools, and EDA tools support for the ARM-based Excalibur embedded processor solutions and Nios soft core embedded processor.

About Altera's Excalibur Embedded Processor Solutions

Combining logic, memory, and a processor core, Altera's Excalibur embedded processor solutions allow engineers to integrate an entire system on a single programmable logic device. The Excalibur embedded processor solutions includes the Nios soft core embedded processor and the ARM-based embedded processor PLDs. The Nios soft core embedded processor features a configurable RISC soft processor with a 16-bit instruction set and user-selectable 16- or 32-bit data paths. The ARM-based Excalibur devices feature an embedded ARM922T^™ hard core processor, along with memory and peripherals, onto a programmable logic device. For more information visit http://www.altera.com/products/devices/excalibur/exc-index.html.

About MiSPO Co., Ltd.

MiSPO Co., Ltd. was established in 1995 as a start-up company to provide real-time operating systems (RTOSs) and middleware solutions to the Japanese embedded systems market. General-purpose and very compact, the NORTi RTOS from MiSPO has been adopted by over 1,000 companies for various applications, including office automation equipment (printers, faxes), cellular phones, network terminals, industrial automation, measurement equipment, and medical devices. More information about MiSPO and NORTi is available on the Internet at http://www.mispo.co.jp (Japanese only).

About Altera

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) is the world's pioneer of 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. ###

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Editor Contacts: 

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

Hisanori Miyazaki MiSPO Co., Ltd. +81-44-829-3381 sales@mispo.co.jp