Altera Announces System-on-a-Programmable-Chip(tm) Development Board <!--<FONT SIZE=-1>(by Peter Clarke - EE-TIMES)</FONT>-->

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Altera Announces System-on-a-Programmable-Chip(tm) Development Board

• Supports SOPC Development
• Features APEX(tm) 20K400 Device for Implementing IP Cores

San Jose, Calif., September 27, 1999 - Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) today announced it will offer a System-on-a-Programmable-Chip(tm) (SOPC) development board, which will feature a high-density APEX(tm) 20K400 programmable logic device (PLD) on-board.  The SOPC board is designed as a prototyping platform that provides SOC designers with an immediate and economical solution to hardware and software co-design and co-verification. The SOPC board supports the development and debugging of a multitude of microprocessor-based SOC designs by incorporating programmable logic with a variety of memory devices, interface resources, and debugging capability. The board will include physical interfaces for widely used standard interconnects and a full-featured, configurable memory subsystem ideal for prototyping embedded systems and SOPC designs.  The board will support multiple clocks, and a wide variety of high performance I/O ports for developing complex communication systems.

"The Altera SOPC board is intended for users implementing microprocessor cores, as well as bus interfaces, DSP, communications, and other industry-standard intellectual property cores into an Altera APEX programmable logic device," said Luanne Stechert, Altera's AMPP program manager.  "The SOPC board will be supported by Altera and a number of Altera Megafunction Partner Program (AMPPSM) partners that will offer cores optimized for the board." The APEX 20K400 device provides 16,640 logic cells and over 200,000 bits of RAM.  The APEX 20K400 is an optimum device for implementing IP cores from AMPP partners such as ARC Cores, Lexra, Sican Microelectronics, and Stargate Solutions.

"Altera's SOPC board is an essential platform which will allow our customers to design and debug systems based on ARC's user-configurable 32-bit RISC microprocessor," said Jim Turley, ARC Cores vice president of marketing. "With our core utilizing only 30% of the  APEX 20K400's available resources, the SOPC board grants customers thousands of logic cells for implementing other IP or custom logic."Furthermore, the SOPC board supports extended JTAG (EJTAG) for development and debug of MIPS-like microprocessor cores, as well as JTAG.  The JTAG port can be used in conjunction with the SignalTap(tm) embedded logic analyzer available in Altera's Quartus(tm) development environment.
 

Pricing and Availability
The SOPC board is expected to become available in November 1999 and cost $4950.  The price of the SOPC board will include the board, schematics, MasterBlaster(tm) cable, demonstration software, and documentation.  Free download programs will be available at http://www.altera.com/IPmegastore.
 

Safe Harbor Notice
This press release contains "forward looking statements" which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward looking statements are generally preceded by words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "projects," or "intends."  Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation the risks that the Company's products will not satisfy customer demands or that the product will no ship as scheduled.  Please refer to the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, copies of which are available from the Company without charge, for further information.
 

About Altera
Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company(tm), was founded in 1983 and is a worldwide leader in high-performance, high-density programmable logic devices and associated computer aided engineering (CAE) logic development tools.  Programmable logic devices are semiconductor chips that offer on-site programmability to customers.  The chips are programmed using tools that run on personal computers or engineering work stations. User benefits include ease of use, lower risk and fast time-to-market.  The company offers the broadest line of CMOS programmable logic devices that address high-speed, high-density and low-power applications.  Altera products serve a broad range of markets, including telecommunications, data communications, computer peripherals and industrial applications.  Altera common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ALTR. More information on Altera can be obtained on the worldwide web at http://www.altera.com. A photograph can be located at http://www.businesswire.com/altera.

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Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, System-on-a-Programmable-Chip, APEX, AMPP, Quartus,  SignalTap, MasterBlaster, and specific device designations are trademarks and/or service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.