Cypress Speeds CPLD Programming with In-System Reprogrammable Software

- Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY) today announced availability of Release 4.0 of its In-System Reprogrammable (ISRTM) software for CPLDs. ISR refers to the ability to reprogram Cypress CPLDs even when they are mounted on a circuit board. Cypress also announced its latest development kit (CY3950I), featuring a USB 2.0 / 1.1 programming cable, which enables up to ten times improvement in programming speed over previous versions of the ISR software. These recent additions, combined with Cypress’s WarpTM Release 6.3 software, round out the company’s full arsenal of tools to support its Ultra37000™ and Delta39K™ CPLD families.

In addition to supporting the world’s largest CPLDs, ISR Release 4.0 adds a new layer of capabilities and compatibility by supporting the Serial Vector Format (SVF). SVF is a widely-adopted industry standard used to describe Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) signals in a more compact way than Standard Test and Programming Language (STAPL), making it more suitable in certain embedded programming applications.

ISR Release 4.0 also extends its JEDEC STAPL support by adding the ability to create Chain Independent (CI) STAPL files. The ability to create CI STAPL files, in addition to the STAPL Chain Dependent files supported by previous versions of ISR, provides further compatibility with third-party JTAG tools. New features present in ISR Release 4.0 include improved chain validation functionality as well as a new Checksum Operation, designed to guarantee programming file integrity. ISR Release 4.0 supports Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98 SE, Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 or later.

“Cypress has long history of providing designers with the best tool set possible,” said Gahan Richardson, senior marketing manager of Data Communications products for Cypress Semiconductor. “With this major increase in performance for our CPLD tools, we’ve significantly reduced design time, resulting in faster time-to-market for our customers.”

ISR Release 4.0 reduces design time in several ways. The latest release eliminates the need to recompose the STAPL file before executing a new STAPL operation. A more user-friendly GUI detects all devices connected in the JTAG chain and automatically populates the GUI with these devices. Additionally, ISR Release 4.0 supports a new Playlist feature that allows multiple operations to be specified in a Playlist; these operations can then be executed consecutively on a single or multiple devices in the JTAG chain.

Pricing and Availability
As with earlier versions of ISR, Release 4.0 may be downloaded free from the Cypress Website at  http://www.cypress.com/support/link.cfm?sd=isr4 . The development kit (CY3950I) is available now from Cypress’s online store (http://www.onfulfillment.com/cypressstore/) for $99.

About Cypress
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY) is Connecting From Last Mile to First Mile™ with high-performance solutions for personal, network access, enterprise, metro switch, and core communications-system applications. Cypress Connects™ using wireless, wireline, digital, and optical transmission standards, including USB, Fibre Channel, SONET/SDH, Gigabit Ethernet, and DWDM. Leveraging its process and system-level expertise, Cypress makes industry-leading physical layer devices, framers, and network search engines, along with a broad portfolio of high-bandwidth memories, timing technology solutions, and reconfigurable mixed-signal arrays. More information about Cypress is accessible online at www.cypress.com.

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Cypress and the Cypress logo are registered trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. ISR, Warp, Delta39K, Ultra37000, “Connecting From Last Mile to First Mile” and “Cypress Connects” are trademarks of Cypress. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.