Actel Provides Path to the Future for Military and Aerospace Community With Broad Hi-Rel Product Roadmap

Company Plans Include the First Flash-Based FPGA for Space and Extensions to Its Industry-Leading, Antifuse-Based RTAX-S Family

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept 06, 2005 -- Providing the military and aerospace markets with a clear path to future designs, Actel Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTL) today revealed an extensive product roadmap that will enable military and aerospace engineers to develop system designs with high reliability (hi-rel), advanced features and superior performance. As part of the roadmap, Actel plans to deliver the first flash-based live at power-up FPGA for space applications, enabling easy prototyping and in-space reconfigurability. Actel's roadmap also includes two additions to its existing antifuse-based families. The RTAX4000S device, also announced today (see separate press release entitled, "Actel Boosts FPGA Densities to New Heights With 4 Million-Gate Radiation-Tolerant Device for Space"), will be the industry's highest density radiation-tolerant (rad-tol) FPGA at 4 million system gates. Further, the onshore-manufactured RHAX250S device, based on Actel's existing RTAX250S device, will be radiation-hardened (rad-hard) assured (RHA) and offer a guaranteed high total dose rating with QML class-V screening.

"The minimal form factor of our single-chip devices and their high radiation tolerance have allowed Actel to rise above the competition in the military and aerospace markets," said Ken O'Neill, director, military and aerospace product marketing at Actel. "In addition, we continue to develop new technologies for the space industry that will push densities to new levels and drive innovation in features and performance while offering extremely high reliability."

The Space Industry's First Flash-Based FPGA

Actel's flash-based FPGAs for space applications will bring a unique set of advantages for system designers. Like Actel's other space-flight FPGAs, the devices will be single chip, for minimum board space and weight, and practically immune to radiation-induced single-event upsets (SEUs). In addition, the devices' reprogramability will be useful for quick prototypes and in-flight reconfigurability. These devices will be extensively modified for space-flight applications and will have higher radiation tolerance than the equivalent commercial parts.

Onshore Manufactured Rad-Hard FPGA

The RHAX250S device, derived from the company's successful RTAX-S family, is a rad-hard, 250,000 system-gate FPGA that is planned for manufacture at BAE Systems' RH CMOS foundry in Manassas, Virginia. The BAE Systems foundry will give the product two distinct benefits for space-flight customers: It will be an RHA product with a high guaranteed total dose rating with QML class-V screening and will also be manufactured entirely within the continental U.S., as required by the recent "trusted foundry" initiative established by the U.S. Department of Defense. No competitor today offers an RH-FPGA of this density level from an onshore foundry. Products are planned for delivery by the end of 2006.

As part of its ongoing effort to support the military and aerospace markets, Actel will continue to develop military-temperature plastic, military-temperature hermetic and Mil-Std 883 Class B versions of the company's commercial products. Since designers of space systems generally require that new technology first obtain an established track record of reliability in non mission-critical applications, Actel maintains a philosophy of developing and delivering products to its commercial customer base and then enhancing those product offerings for the hi-rel community.

Further, Actel provides support to its military and aerospace customers with a hi-rel tools package that offers a comprehensive selection of tools for synthesis, functional verification and the implementation of DSP functions.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is the leader in single-chip FPGA solutions. The company is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol ACTL and is headquartered at 2061 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, Calif., 94043-4655. For more information about Actel, visit http://www.actel.com. Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835).

NOTE: The Actel name and logo are trademarks of Actel Corporation. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Actel Corporation