Altera and PLDApplications Announce Industry's First 133-MHz PCI-X IP Core for FPGAs

PLDApplications' Core Targets Stratix FPGAs for Fastest Programmable PCI-X Solution

Aix-en-Provence, France and San Jose, Calif., October 30, 2002--PLDApplications, a Premier Altera Megafunction Partners Program (AMPPSM) partner, and Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced the immediate availability of a 133-MHz PCI-X intellectual property (IP) core targeted for Altera's Stratix™ FPGAs. The combination of PLDApplications' PCI-X core and Altera's industry-leading Stratix device family provides the only programmable solution on the market today that is able to achieve 133-MHz performance.

Altera was the first to introduce a PCI-X core for FPGAs in 1999, shortly after the specifications for the high-speed interface were approved. Since that time, PCI-based systems have been migrating towards PCI-X to take advantage of the higher performance while maintaining backward software compatibility. In its August, 2002 "Advanced Bus and Interface Markets and Trends" report, Electronic Trend Publications forecasts total PCI-X semiconductor revenue to be $200 million for 2003, up from $84 million this year.

"Altera's high-performance FPGAs combined with PLDApplications' expertise in the field of high-speed interface IP development offers a perfect combination for our customers," said Craig Lytle, vice president of Altera's intellectual property business unit. "The release of the PCI-X core adds to PLDApplications' current industry-leading portfolio of high-quality intellectual property."

In announcing both silicon and off-the-shelf IP achieving 133-MHz PCI-X, Altera and PLDApplications are the first to provide system designers with the performance necessary to achieve existing design requirements in storage and communications applications.

"Due to its performance and advanced I/O support, Altera's Stratix devices provide an ideal platform for bridging high-speed interfaces like PCI-X," said Arnaud Schleich, vice president of marketing at PLDApplications. "With Stratix devices shipping today, we are able to meet our customer's immediate needs for 133-MHz PCI-X applications."

About PLDApplications' 133-MHz PCI-X Core
The PLDApplications PCI-X core supports 32-bit or 64-bit modes, master and target functionality, 64-bit addressing, burst transfers, parameterizable configuration space, and up to 4 independent DMA channels with rotating priority. It is fully compliant with the PCI-X addendum to the PCI local bus specification, revision 1.0b, and with PCI Power Management revision 1.1. A typical configuration uses 3,500 logic elements (LEs). For additional information and a full feature list, visit the Altera web site at www.altera.com/products/ip/ampp/plda/m-pld-pcix_mastarg_3264.html. The PLDApplications' 133-MHz PCI-X solution is available now and pricing starts at $16,990 for a node-locked encrypted netlist. An OpenCore® free test drive is available at www.plda.com.

About Stratix Devices
Stratix devices are based on a 1.5-V, 0.13-µm, 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 high data processing. Stratix devices support various differential I/O electrical standards such as the LVDS, LVPECL, PCML, and HyperTransport™ standards, as well as high-speed interfaces, including the UTOPIA IV, SPI-4 Phase 2, SFI-4, 10G Ethernet XSBI, RapidIO™, HyperTransport, and others. Stratix devices also offer a complete clock management solution with its 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 PLDApplications
PLDApplications provides high-performance IP cores for FPGAs or ASICs. The company was ranked the third PCI IP core vendor worldwide by Gartner Dataquest in 2000. PLDApplications also delivers PCI and CompactPCI boards for data acquisition, imaging, networking, industrial automation, and process control applications. These solutions are distributed worldwide. For more information, please visit www.plda.com.

About Altera
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) 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.

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.