Actel Introduces Industry's Fastest FPGAs Qualified to Full Military Specifications

Antifuse-Based FPGAs Provide High Performance and High Reliability for Military Applications

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 27, 2003 - Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL) today announced that its high-performance, nonvolatile Axcelerator family of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) devices has been qualified to military specifications. The Axcelerator devices are the first FPGA family, with flexible soft IP implementing 66MHz PCI and 1Gb/s Fiber Channel designs, to meet performance specifications over the full military temperature range (-55° C to 125° C). The single-chip AX2000, AX1000, AX500, and AX250 devices are now available in three new packaging and screening options - military-temperature plastic (MTP), military-temperature hermetic (MTH), and hermetic packaging fully screened to MIL-STD 883 class B (883B) - offering densities up to 2-million system gates and up to 288Kbits memory. The Axcelerator family's signature features of industry-leading performance, low-power, design security and firm-error immunity make the new devices suitable for an array of military and avionics applications requiring high bandwidth, such as radar, communications and weapons systems.

"As FPGAs increase in density and performance capabilities, military designers looking to eliminate non-recurring engineering costs and schedule risks associated with ASICs are choosing FPGAs for mid-volume applications," said Ken O'Neill, director, military and aerospace product marketing at Actel. "Screened using a stringent three-temperature testing process, Actel's military-qualified Axcelerator devices exceed performance requirements while adhering to strict military specifications to deliver a cost-effective, high-reliability solution."

The Axcelerator devices feature up to 684 I/Os and are supported by a broad portfolio of IP, including 66MHz PCI and 1Gb/s Fibre Channel, also introduced today (see press release, "Actel and MorethanIP Deliver Industry's First Gigabit Fibre Channel Solutions For Military Applications"). Through internal benchmarks using these high-performance IP cores, Actel has verified that the Axcelerator devices can deliver the industry's highest-performance for military-grade FPGAs.

About the Axcelerator Device Family

Built upon the company's AX architecture, the antifuse-based Axcelerator family delivers better than 500 MHz internal operation and up to 100 percent resource utilization. Additionally, the company's live at power-up, single-chip Axcelerator FPGAs avoid in-rush current spikes, simplify system power supply design and generally offer lower standby and dynamic power consumption than competing solutions. The devices offer levels of design security beyond SRAM-based offerings and conventional ASIC solutions, enabling designers to safeguard against common security problems, including overbuilding, cloning, reverse engineering and denial of service. Firm errors, which occur when high-energy neutrons generated in the upper atmosphere strike the configuration cells of SRAM-based FPGAs, can be impossible to prevent. Because the antifuse configuration cannot be altered once programmed, firm errors in Axcelerator FPGAs are nonexistent.

Pricing and Availability

Fully qualified AX2000, AX1000, AX500 and AX250 devices in MTP packaging are available now with pricing beginning at $260 in 5K unit quantities. The AX2000, AX1000, AX500 and AX250 devices in MTH packaging will be available in Q1 2004 with pricing beginning at $430 in 5K unit quantities. In addition, 883B Axcelerator products will start shipping in Q2 2004 with pricing beginning at $770 in 5K units. For further information about pricing and availability, please contact Actel.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is a supplier of innovative programmable logic solutions, including field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) based on antifuse and flash technologies, high-performance intellectual property (IP) cores, software development tools and design services, targeted for the high-speed communications, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) replacement and radiation-tolerant markets. Founded in 1985, Actel employs approximately 500 people worldwide. The Company is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ACTL and is headquartered at 2061 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA, 94043-4655. Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835). Internet: http://www.actel.com.

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