Altera Establishes Industry's First Embedded Software IP Partnership Program

San Jose, Calif., October 23, 2001--Engineers designing systems around integrated processors and programmable logic devices (PLDs), such Altera Corporation's (Nasdaq: ALTR) ARM^®-based Excalibur^[tm] embedded processor solution, now have direct access to the software required for supporting complex system-on-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Today, Altera unveiled the Altera Megafunction Partnership Program (AMPP^SM) for Software. In conjunction with its Excalibur embedded processor strategy, Altera recognizes the need to provide its customers access to state-of-the art application code, protocol stacks, and other embedded processor software-based intellectual property (IP).

"Altera is addressing the complex engineering development needs of customers as they develop a complete SOPC solution," said Craig Lytle, vice president of the IP business unit at Altera. "The addition of the AMPP Software program allows Altera to be a one-stop shop for both IP and software applications."

Members of Altera's new AMPP for Software inlcude HelloSoft Inc. (http://www.hellosoft.com), Future Software Ltd (http://www.futsoft.com), and Ncomm, Inc. (http://www.ncomm.com). The AMPP Software partners will augment the existing Altera AMPP partners, which consist of Hardware Description Language (HDL)-based IP providers. A customer utilizing the resources available through both of these programs in conjunction with Altera's Excalibur devices will be able to achieve faster time-to-market with their end-systems by being able to easily implement software applications IP as well as hardware IP.

"By working with Altera to bring HelloSoft's software expertise and IP to the SOPC arena, we can accelerate the path from design through implementation," said Krishna Yarlagadda, president and chief executive officer of HelloSoft Corporation. "Among the many benefits for our mutual customers is the significant reduction in the time it takes to develop and deliver products to market."

Altera AMPP for Software

Along with the ability to serve worldwide customers, AMPP Software partners were selected by Altera based on their strong track records in software development and embedded processor knowledge. In addition, Altera will provide AMPP Software partners with in-depth technical training on Altera's entire portfolio of SOPC product solutions. Thus, AMPP Software partners will enable SOPC designers to more smoothly deploy Altera's Excalibur embedded processor solutions - which combine logic, memory and a Nios^[tm] and ARM-based processor core - in addition to Altera's catalog of IP cores and APEX^[tm], APEX II or Mercury^[tm] devices.

About Altera

Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company^®, was founded in 1983 and is a leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs). Altera's CMOS-based PLDs are user-programmable semiconductor chips that enhance flexibility and reduce time-to-market for companies in the communications, computer peripheral, and industrial markets. By using high performance devices, software development tools, and sophisticated intellectual property cores, system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions can be created with embedded processors, memory, and other complex logic together on a single PLD. Altera common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ALTR. More information on Altera is available on the Internet at http://www.altera.com.

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