Actel Unveils Platform8051, Industry's First Embedded System Platform for Highly Integrated 8051 Designs

Pre-Integrated and Pre-Verified, Platform8051 IP Significantly Reduces Development Cost and Design Time for Embedded Systems Designers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 6, 2003 - Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL) today introduced the new Platform8051, an integrated platform solution initially consisting of six popular pre-integrated and pre-verified intellectual property (IP) cores. Optimized for use with Actel field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), the Platform8051 solution enables a flexible, cost-effective, highly integrated embedded system for consumer, communications, industrial, automotive, military and aerospace applications. Designers may specify any configuration of the industry-standard IP cores, including Actel's new Core8051 8-bit microcontroller (MCU) and a range of peripherals, and within one day receive the platform design files via a Web-based delivery system. Actel today also announced availability of the Platform8051 Development Kit that includes the IP cores, software tools and target silicon needed to implement this unique platform solution. Leveraging this highly integrated IP solution, Actel expects designers to shave months off their design time.

"By integrating a variety of key peripherals with an MCU core on a single FPGA, Actel enables the embedded system designer to achieve a highly differentiated system-on-chip design for a fraction of the time and expense required to develop an ASIC," said Yankin Tanurhan, senior director, Applications and IP Solutions Group at Actel. "The 8051 is the world's leading 8-bit MCU architecture, and with this integrated platform, designers can use Actel FPGAs to quickly create new products. Likewise, Platform8051 enables designers to easily migrate current board-level designs onto a single FPGA to dramatically reduce system costs."

The initial Platform8051 IP family includes Core8051, introduced today (see related press release, "Actel's New Core8051 MCU Core Delivers Price/Performance From 35 Cents/MIPS on a Single Actel FPGA"), along with popular DirectCore peripheral IP including:

• Core10/100 - 10/100Mbps Ethernet core,
  an Ethernet-protocol transceiver/controller
• CoreI2C - Standard Inter-Integrated Circuit core,
  a two-wire master/slave serial interface
• CoreSPI - Serial Peripheral Interface core,
  a point-to-point master/slave serial interface
• CoreSDLC - Synchronous Data Link Controller core,
  a high-speed synchronous serial interface
• Core16X50 - Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) core,
  a serial communications controller
  

The cores are thoroughly verified and tested in software simulation and hardware and have been proven in customer designs. Customers can purchase the complete set or any combination of the cores, depending on individual requirements, and receive the platform cores and user documentation via Web access within a day.

Platform8051 can be used with many Actel FPGA families, including ProASIC Plus, Axcelerator, SX-A and RTSX-S, to deliver highly integrated 8051-based products more quickly and without the high non-recurring engineering (NRE) fees associated with ASIC designs. Actel plans to deliver platforms based on other industry-standard processors in the future.

Platform8051 Development Kit

With the Platform8051 Development Kit, Actel delivers a complete development environment including IP cores, software tools and target FPGA for the embedded designer. A Web server application is utilized to demonstrate Core8051 and Core10/100 in operation. The kit includes an Actel ProASIC Plus APA600-FG676 device, the Keil mVision2 IDE evaluation software, Actel's Libero integrated design environment and an optional FlashPro Lite debugger providing access to First Silicon Solutions' (FS2) On-Chip Instrumentation. Being modular, the kit will allow designers access to future demonstration applications, such as MIL-STD-1553, USB, IRDA and AFDX.

Pricing and Availability

The Platform8051 product and development kit are available now. The single-use price for all six cores is $25,000, a cost equivalent to 3 individual cores. The cores are also available individually or as a smaller, pre-integrated group. The evaluation kit is $550, or $700 including a FlashPro Lite programmer and FS2 debugger.

About Actel's DirectCore Products

Actel DirectCore products are IP products that are designed specifically for use with Actel devices. DirectCores are sourced, verified, supported and maintained by Actel. They come complete as pre-implemented, synthesizable building blocks and have been thoroughly tested and verified in Actel FPGAs. DirectCores are delivered with excellent documentation and support to help simplify the designer's task of achieving fast time-to-market with minimal design costs and risks.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is a supplier of innovative programmable logic solutions, including field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) based on antifuse and flash technologies, high-performance intellectual property (IP) cores, software development tools and design services, targeted for the high-speed communications, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) replacement and radiation-tolerant markets. Founded in 1985, Actel employs approximately 500 people worldwide. The Company is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ACTL and is headquartered at 2061 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA, 94043-4655. Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835). Internet: http://www.actel.com.

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