Altera Now Shipping Industry’s Highest-Density 0.13-um Industrial-Grade FPGAs

High-Density Stratix Devices Enable Improved Performance and Design Flexibility in Military, Aerospace and Industrial Systems

San Jose, Calif., January 20, 2004 — Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today introduced two new industrial-grade members of its Stratix™ family of FPGAs, the EP1S80 and the EP1S60 devices.  The EP1S80 device provides over 79,000 logic elements and over 7 Mbits of internal memory, making it the largest 0.13-um industrial-grade FPGA available today.  Designers tasked with building complex programmable electronic systems for use in rugged environments will be able to use these high-density devices to improve system performance, while streamlining system design.

FPGAs are increasingly being used in a wide range of military, aerospace, and industrial applications, such as test and measurement equipment, software-defined radio, avionics instrumentation and military communications systems that require both re-configurability and the capability to operate across a wide range of temperatures.  With the introduction of these two new devices, Altera now offers 13 different industrial-grade (-40ºC to 100ºC) versions of its high-performance Stratix FPGAs in a variety of densities and packages. 

Among the customers using industrial-grade Stratix products is Rockwell Collins, a leader in aviation electronics and communications for military and government customers worldwide.  Their military and avionics systems must deliver unmatched performance and versatility in a hostile environment and these systems require the highest density industrial products. The new industrial-grade Stratix devices provide the ideal solution for their requirements.

Altera is also shipping all 5 densities of the low-cost Cyclone™ family of FPGAs in industrial-grade and extended temperature grade (-40ºC to 125ºC) versions.  As a result, Altera now offers its military/aerospace and industrial customers an unparalleled range of low-cost and high-performance devices.

“Industrial-grade devices require a manufacturing process with consistency and high yield to meet the rigorous qualification demands of the extended temperature market,” said David Greenfield, senior director of product marketing, FPGA products at Altera.  “This release of industrial versions of the highest density Stratix devices demonstrates both the robustness of our 0.13-micron manufacturing process and our commitment to delivering a broad range of industrial-grade solutions for our customers.”

About Stratix Devices
The Stratix device family is the industry’s first family of production-qualified FPGAs built on a 0.13-micron, all-layer copper process and the winner of EDN magazine’s 2002 Digital IC Innovation Award.  Featuring embedded DSP blocks, embedded RAM blocks and support for leading edge and emerging I/O standards, Stratix devices give designers the performance and densities they need to meet the challenges of high-bandwidth system design.  For more information about the Stratix device family, visit www.altera.com/stratix. For more information about our industrial grade offerings, visit http://www.altera.com/products/devices/ind/ind-temp.html

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.

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