New Release of Altera's DSP Builder Accelerates Stratix II and Cyclone II FPGA-Based DSP Designs

San Jose, Calif., September 8, 2004—Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today introduced version 2.2 of its DSP Builder development tool, enabling digital signal processing (DSP) designers to take full advantage of Altera’s new high-performance Stratix^® II and low-cost Cyclone™ II device families. Supporting Altera’s rich DSP MegaCore^®

intellectual property (IP) portfolio, the new version also supports MATLAB 7 and Simulink 6 software packages included in The MathWorks Release 14. The new release of DSP Builder also includes a color space converter IP core and an edge detection reference design featuring a two-dimensional filter to help accelerate the development of video and image processing designs using Simulink.

“Adoption of Simulink for FPGA designs targeting DSP applications continues to accelerate,” said Ken Karnofsky, marketing director for Signal Processing and Communications at The MathWorks, Inc. “By extending their powerful DSP IP portfolio to DSP Builder, Altera has delivered a strong set of optimized FPGA libraries for filtering, transforms, and forward error correction. DSP Builder version 2.2 combined with Altera’s feature-rich Stratix II DSP development kit provides an ideal platform for accelerating DSPs with FPGA co-processors.”

DSP designs implemented in Stratix II FPGAs can deliver 1.3 microsecond fast Fourier transform (FFT) performance—the industry’s fastest—and over 300-MHz finite impulse response (FIR) filtering performance. In addition, the forward error correction requirements for the 802.16d broadband wireless standard can be implemented in the smallest Cyclone II device using the Viterbi and Reed-Solomon cores available with DSP Builder version 2.2, enabling low-cost wireless design for cost-sensitive markets.

“DSP Builder version 2.2 and our rich DSP IP portfolio help our customers optimize performance and reduce development time. At the same time, by fully supporting the low-cost Cyclone II family’s embedded multipliers, DSP Builder version 2.2 provides an excellent development path for price-sensitive DSP applications,” said Craig Lytle, vice president of Altera’s IP business unit.

DSP Builder allows engineers to shorten the DSP design cycle by creating the hardware representation of a DSP design in an algorithm-friendly environment. DSP Builder version 2.2 can link with Altera’s SOPC Builder tool to design custom FPGA co-processors, which can easily connect to system processors, reducing development time. The new Nios^® II embedded soft processor is also supported by DSP Builder version 2.2 through its link with the SOPC Builder development tool featured in the Quartus^® II software, which delivers the industry’s lowest development costs for advanced system-on-a-programmable chip (SOPC) designs.

Pricing and Availability

DSP Builder version 2.2 is available now to customers with a current DSP Builder subscription. DSP Builder subscription pricing is $1,995 and includes 12 months of software upgrades. A one-year license is included with Altera’s new DSP Development Kit, Stratix II Edition. A download of the DSP Builder tool is available for evaluation from Altera’s DSP solutions center at www.altera.com/dsp. Simulink and MATLAB are available today from The MathWorks at www.mathworks.com.

About the Stratix II Device Family

Featuring an innovative new logic structure, Stratix II devices offer over twice the logic density and 50 percent higher performance at 40 percent lower cost than first-generation Stratix devices. Stratix II devices offer more than double the logic density and are 50 percent faster compared to the nearest competitive devices. The new logic structure allows designers to conserve device resources by packing more functionality into a smaller area. For more information about Stratix II devices, please visit www.altera.com/stratix2.

About the Cyclone II Device Family

The second generation of Altera’s industry-leading, low-cost Cyclone FPGAs, Cyclone II devices offer 30 percent lower cost and more than three times the density of the first-generation devices, extending Altera’s leadership in the low-cost FPGA market. Cyclone II devices offer up to 150 18-bit x 18-bit multipliers capable of implementing common DSP functions such as finite impulse response (FIR) filters, FFTs, correlators, encoders/decoders, and numerically controlled oscillators (NCOs). Leveraging the same customer-driven product definition process that has resulted in the overwhelming success of the original Cyclone family, Cyclone II devices offer the optimal combination of density and performance at the lowest cost. For more information about Cyclone II devices, please visit www.altera.com/cyclone2.

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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