Industry's Lowest Cost CPLD Available Now; Altera Moves MAX II CPLDs into Production

San Jose, Calif., January 10, 2005—Altera Corporation today announced that the MAX^® II EPM240 CPLD has been qualified for production several weeks ahead of schedule and is now shipping in volume. As the lowest cost member of the MAX II family, the EPM240 has 240 logic elements (LEs) and is ideal for volume-driven, price-sensitive applications. Also shipping as a production-qualified device is the 1.8-V EPM240G version of MAX II, which offers the industry’s lowest dynamic-power consumption of any equivalent CPLD device.

“Altera’s low-cost programmable logic devices provide us with the right features for our digital video camera recorders,” said Shinji Takemoto, senior engineer at the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Panasonic AVC Networks Company, Systems Business Group Technology Center. “In addition to their low cost and high performance, the low power consumption of MAX II CPLDs is especially attractive. We will be using the EPM240 devices we have received in our DVCPRO VariCam^® for HD Cinema^® camera recorder.”

“The rollout of the EPM240 extends Altera’s low-cost leadership in the CPLD market,” said Luanne Schirrmeister, director of CPLD product marketing at Altera. “Advanced features, combined with the lowest CPLD price points in the industry, make the MAX II family perfect for all control-path applications in consumer, automotive, industrial, and telecommunications products.”

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for the EPM240 and EPM240G is $1.50 in volume. With the addition of the EPM240 and EPM240G CPLDs, the MAX II family has a total of three devices shipping to customers.The EPM1270 with 1,270 LEs and 212 I/Os, has been shipping since mid-2004 and is featured in Altera’s low-cost MAX II Development Kit, which is readily available for $150 through authorized Altera distributors and through Altera’s online store at www.shopaltera.com.

The MAX II family has passed all reliability tests, and all members will be available as production-qualified devices in the first half of 2005.

Quartus II Software Support

MAX II devices are supported by the Quartus^® II design software, the industry’s most advanced design software. Featuring a built-in MAX+PLUS II software look-and-feel option, long-time users of MAX devices can benefit from the Quartus II software’s features without having to learn a new graphical user interface. Customers can download Altera’s no-cost Quartus II Web Edition design software at www.altera.com/q2webedition.

About MAX II Devices

Altera’s MAX II devices are the industry’s lowest-cost CPLDs, targeted at general-purpose, low-density logic applications. Based on a groundbreaking implementation of a look-up table-based architecture for CPLDs, MAX II devices deliver half the cost, one-tenth the power, four times the density, and twice the performance of previous MAX devices. Built on TSMC’s 0.18-micron flash-based process technology, the instant-on and non-volatile MAX II devices offer 240 to 2,210 LEs, up to 272 user I/O pins, and innovative board-management features such as user flash memory. For more information on Altera’s MAX II device family, visit www.altera.com/max2.  

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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