Altera to Demonstrate Industry's First Complete FPGA-Based DVB-ASI Solution at IBC 2004

Suite of Technical Solutions Showcases Altera FPGA Support for Broadcast Industry

IBC 2004, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 8, 2004 — Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) announced today that it will demonstrate the industry’s first complete FPGA-based digital video broadcast asynchronous serial interface (DVB-ASI) solution at IBC 2004. DVB-ASI is a transmission protocol that is widely used to link broadcast equipment. When integrated into Altera^® FPGAs, this solution delivers lower cost and greater flexibility than other alternatives. The DVB-ASI demonstration at IBC 2004 is part of a suite of technical solutions that showcases Altera’s comprehensive support for the broadcast industry’s rapid progression towards digital and high-definition broadcasting.

The growing requirements for standard IT technologies within the broadcast industry are encouraging developers to adopt internet protocol-based Ethernet networks to transport video data. To support such requirements, Altera’s DVB-ASI solution includes a flexible ASI-to-Gigabit Ethernet reference design featuring a fully programmable Ethernet MAC core from MoreThanIP, an Altera Megafunction Partner Program (AMPPSM) member.

Within the production environment, the serial digital interface (SDI) is the primary method of transport, and Altera will be showcasing both standard-definition and high-definition SDI solutions that are compliant with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) specification. Also at the booth will be quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) solutions from AMPP partner Alcahest. These QAM solutions lower the cost of integrating multiple channels for cable broadcasting. Finally, Altera’s exhibition will feature video compression/decompression technologies, including H.264/MPEG-4 advanced video coding (AVC) for next-generation broadcast applications and JPEG 2000 for digital cinema applications.

“An ASI-to-Gigabit Ethernet interface is an essential part of a complete ASI offering,” said Francois Balay, director at MorethanIP. “By integrating Gigabit Ethernet support into their equipment, broadcast equipment vendors will be able to offer products that can interact with standard IP-based Ethernet networks, which will lower their customers’ IT infrastructure costs. In addition, products that include Gigabit Ethernet interface capability can avoid the cable length limitations of a pure DVB-ASI solution.”

Several other examples of Altera’s success in the broadcast market will be on display at IBC 2004, including innovative customer examples from the following:

“As the global audio and video market moves to all-digital broadcasting, professional broadcast equipment providers are looking for cost-effective products supporting multiple audio/video formats, encoding/decoding schemes, and IT standards,” said Todd Scott, senior director of Altera’s broadcast and consumer business unit. “Altera is helping to power the future of digital broadcasting by enabling leading-edge integration, flexibility, and cost benefits.”

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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Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, the stylized Altera logo, specific device designations and all other words that are identified as trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.  All other product or service names are the property of their respective holder.

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