Actel Delivers Secure, Comprehensive Design Flow for Complex FPGA Development Using ARM7 Family Processor

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov 02, 2005 -- Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL) today unveiled significant new capabilities available with its Libero Integrated Design Environment (IDE). The new Libero 6.3 software provides a secure design flow -- from synthesis through implementation -- for integrating Actel's CoreMP7, the industry's first soft ARM7 family processor, into Actel's single-chip, nonvolatile field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). With this software release, Actel builds on the capabilities of its industry-leading SmartTime static timing analysis environment to deliver enhanced minimum-delay support, uniquely enabling precision hold-time characterization for high-speed FPGAs. The enhanced software also automates the task of I/O voltage assignment and supports Actel's new RTAX4000S devices, the industry's highest density FPGA for space applications.

"Combining best-in-class third-party EDA tools with Actel's proprietary design tools, the Libero 6.3 IDE continues Actel's tradition of delivering an unmatched level of value with a feature-rich tools suite," said Michael Mertz, senior manager of tools marketing at Actel. "By enhancing Libero to support a soft ARM7 family processor implementation, we can put this advanced microprocessor technology into the hands of more FPGA designers. Further, by automating previously manual tasks and offering unique timing analysis capabilities, we enable FPGA designers to quickly achieve optimal results."

Optimized to Support CoreMP7

Libero 6.3 provides an advanced block-level methodology that enables designers to aggregate IP around CoreMP7, map it into Actel's ProASIC3/E FPGA fabric with predictable timing and verify operation. Tight integration with industry-leading, third-party tools from Magma Design Automation, Mentor Graphics and Synplicity enables seamless synthesis, verification and physical synthesis for designs incorporating CoreMP7. Enhanced black-box support from Synplicity and Magma Design Automation, within their respective synthesis and physical synthesis tools, enable a secure flow, while Actel's own proprietary tools provide state-of-the-art encryption to protect the valuable ARM7 IP from unauthorized access. Actel's tools also deliver the timing analysis and layout functionality necessary to simplify and accelerate system design using CoreMP7.

Unlike SRAM-based devices, Actel's impenetrable flash architecture and powerful encryption techniques safeguard ARM7 and user IP against reverse engineering or theft, helping to preserve a company's competitive advantage and protect its development investment. Delivering this unique, end-to-end secure flow for Actel devices, Libero 6.3 enables the first ARM processor-based technology for implementation on programmable logic as a soft IP core. As a result, designers can build cost-effective solutions for a variety of value-based consumer, industrial, automotive and high-reliability applications.

Advanced Features and New Device Support

Libero 6.3 delivers enhanced timing and layout capabilities that promote better design practice and designer efficiency. Actel's industry-leading SmartTime timing analysis environment now features "Enhanced_Min_Delay," (EMD) characterization, a comprehensive process that, for the first time, brings precise hold-time analysis to the realm of FPGA design. EMD eliminates the need to over-guardband a design for minimum delay, improving time-to-design closure. This significant enhancement uniquely enables SmartTime users with the benefit of a more comprehensive way to verify setup and hold timing at the internal and chip-to-chip level.

Libero 6.3 also employs advanced matching algorithms to automate I/O voltage assignments, alleviating the time-consuming process of optimizing I/O schemes for complex, processor-based designs. This new I/O bank assigner automatically assigns VCCI voltages and VREF pins to appropriate unassigned I/Os during layout. Automating this previously manual process simplifies FPGA design, especially for complex devices containing as many as 80 different types of I/Os.

Further, Libero 6.3 delivers the tools necessary to target, layout and verify the next-generation of high-reliability space designs using Actel's new RTAX4000S device. At four million system gates, the RTAX4000S device is the industry's highest density radiation-tolerant FPGA.

About the Libero Integrated Design Environment

Actel's Libero 6.3 IDE integrates best-in-class tools from EDA leaders, including Magma, Mentor Graphics, SynaptiCAD and Synplicity, and custom-developed tools from Actel into a single FPGA development package. The Libero tool suite supports mixed-mode design entry input, giving designers the choice of mixing either high-level VHDL or Verilog HDL language blocks with schematic modules in a design.

Pricing and Availability

The Actel Libero 6.3 IDE is available in a Platinum edition for Windows and Unix platforms, which sell for $2495 and $4995 respectively. A free Gold edition is also available for Windows. All editions are one-year renewable licenses. For further information about pricing and availability, please contact Actel.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is the leader in single-chip FPGA solutions. The company is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol ACTL and is headquartered at 2061 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, Calif., 94043-4655. For more information about Actel, visit http://www.actel.com . Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835).

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