TANDBERG Television Adopts Altera Stratix II Devices and Nios II Embedded Processors to Deliver DVB-ASI

— Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) announced today that TANDBERG Television has chosen Altera’s Stratix® II FPGAs and Nios® II soft-core embedded processors to deliver low-cost, highly-integrated digital video broadcast asynchronous serial interface (DVB-ASI) capabilities for selected next-generation products. DVB-ASI is a serial data transmission protocol that is widely used as a link between equipment in broadcast facilities. TANDBERG Television selected Altera’s DVB-ASI solution to replace an existing ASSP-based solution after an exhaustive evaluation that included other programmable logic devices.

“Altera’s Stratix II FPGAs provide us with the most cost effective solution for our DVB-ASI requirements,” said Simon Bigg, TANDBERG Television’s director of engineering. “The complete solution, which includes Stratix II FPGAs and Nios II processors, enabled us to replace several ASSPs with a lower-cost, flexible alternative that reduces our board space and power consumption, allowing us to offer a more highly-integrated product to our customers. We evaluated the leading programmable logic vendors for this project, but only Altera demonstrated a viable DVB-ASI solution. In addition, they developed a comprehensive plan for our success, including very competitive pricing, broadcast-specific support, and shared product roadmaps, which confirmed our choice of Altera as the right development partner.”

In the broadcast delivery chain, DVB-ASI is used by compression encoders, multiplexers and other broadcast equipment to transport MPEG-2 packets over copper-based cables or optical networks. In the past, broadcast equipment vendors have relied on ASSPs to provide DVB-ASI capability in their products, but this solution is often expensive and inflexible. Programmable logic-based DVB-ASI solutions enable leading broadcast suppliers like TANDBERG Television to integrate DVB-ASI and other functions into fewer devices, which reduces their costs and allows them to offer more compact equipment solutions.

“As a market-leading supplier of products and systems for the delivery of video across a wide variety of networks, TANDBERG Television demands leading-edge solutions that meet the most rigorous requirements in terms of technical merit, low cost, and comprehensive support,” said Todd Scott, senior director of Altera’s broadcast and digital consumer business unit. “Altera is the only programmable logic vendor that met TANDBERG Television’s DVB-ASI criteria.   This underscores the quality of our broadcast solutions. Further, TANDBERG Television’s adoption of Altera products which were introduced earlier this year highlights customer confidence in our ability to execute and meet our commitments.”

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 Nios II Family of Embedded Processors

Altera’s Nios II family of soft-core embedded processors is optimized for programmable logic and system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) integration. With three Nios II cores and multiple FPGA device families to choose from, developers can accommodate a wide range of performance and price points, achieving performance over 200 DMIPs in Stratix II FPGAs, and costs as low as $0.35 in Cyclone II devices. Nios II cores are general-purpose RISC processors that can be combined with user logic and programmed into an Altera® FPGA. The processor features a 32-bit instruction set, 32-bit data path, and configurable instruction and data caches. Nios II embedded processors are royalty free when used in Altera FPGAs and HardCopy® devices. An ASIC license is available for an additional charge. For more information, visit  www.altera.com/nios2.

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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