Altera's Stratix III FPGAs Chosen for Harmonic's Next-Generation Universal Broadcast Video Encoder

-- Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced that Harmonic has chosen its Stratix® III FPGAs for its next-generation high-definition (HD) H.264 1080p video broadcast encoder. Delivering the right combination of performance, programmability, flexibility and low power consumption, the Stratix III devices help Harmonic to improve video quality while consuming significantly less bandwidth.

Altera® Stratix III devices are used in Harmonic's DiviCom Electra 8000, the world's first encoding and transcoding platform to support MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) and MPEG-2 CODECs in standard-definition (SD) and HD formats up to full frame-rate 1080p 50/60. While helping to provide superior picture quality, Altera's Stratix III devices also contribute to the Electra 8000&'s ground-breaking energy efficiency.

“Harmonic's DiviCom Electra 8000 sets the benchmark for real-time video-processing technology,” said Nimrod Ben-Natan, Vice President of Product Marketing, Solutions and Strategy for Harmonic Inc. “Altera's Stratix III FPGAs help us enhance our video algorithms. Altera offers clear FPGA leadership in digital signal processing (DSP) and external memory performance, while still delivering low power requirements.”

“Altera has made significant investments in our FPGA architecture and solutions to meet the demanding requirements of 1080p video-processing applications,” said Arun Iyengar, senior director of Altera's broadcast and communications business units. “Altera's Stratix III FPGAs deliver twice the video-processing capability of previous-generation FPGAs while maintaining a constant power budget. This allows broadcast leaders like Harmonic to further differentiate its products.”

About Stratix III FPGAs

Altera's Stratix III FPGAs are the industry's lowest power, high-performance 65-nm FPGAs. Stratix III FPGA variants that are logic rich (L) or enhanced (E) for memory and digital signal processing (DSP) allow designers to balance resource requirements without having to design a device any bigger than absolutely necessary, thus saving board real estate, power, compilation time and money. Stratix III FPGAs target high-end core system-processing designs in many applications. For more information on Stratix III FPGAs, visit www.altera.com/pr/stratix3.

About Altera

Altera programmable solutions enable system and semiconductor companies to rapidly and cost-effectively innovate, differentiate and win in their markets. Find out more about Altera's FPGA, CPLD and ASIC devices at www.altera.com.