Altera's FPGA and HardCopy ASIC families provide an ideal solution for designers of military and airborne equipment. Offering features such as anti-tampering design security, end-of-life protection, military temperature support and high quality and reliability levels for rugged environments, Altera's solutions are reducing risk, increasing reliability and performance and assuring time-to-market goals.

"Aldec has a long track record of supplying industry-leading simulation and verification solutions to support our families of FPGAs," said Amr El-Ashmawi, senior business unit manager, military and aerospace business unit at Altera Corporation. "Aldec is an integral member of our DO-254 Global Partner Network, providing our mutual customers with a comprehensive verification environment."

Aldec's DO-254 In-Hardware Verification Methodology

The Aldec DO-254 CTS reuses the HDL simulation testbench with 100 percent functional coverage for in-hardware testing in the target Altera device at-speed. As with HDL simulation, all of the I/O pins on the FPGA are available for in-hardware testing. The golden sets of waveform vectors validated in the HDL simulation are checked against the sets of waveform vectors generated from the Altera device. If any mismatches are found, they can be easily investigated using Aldec's graphical waveform viewer. The Aldec DO-254 CTS meets all of the designers' in-hardware testing needs for the most demanding DO-254 applications of Level A and Level B.

Pricing and Availability

The Aldec DO-254 CTS in-hardware verification solution is offered by Aldec. For additional information about the verification solution, contact Aldec or visit: www.aldec.com.

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 at www.altera.com.

About Aldec

Aldec offers a patented technology suite including: design entry, HDL simulators, co-simulation, design rule checking, hardware-assisted verification, co-verification, IP Cores, DO-254 compliance tool sets and engineering specialty solutions. www.aldec.com Aldec is a trademark of Aldec, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Aldec, Inc.

Aldec, Inc.
Lori Nguyen, 702-990-4400, ext. 254
lorin@aldec.com
or
Altera Corporation
Steve Gabriel, 408-544-6397
newsroom@altera.com

Altera and HCELL Engineering worked closely with Thales Aerospace to validate this safety-critical version of the Nios II embedded processor within its latest avionics system. Jerome Papineau, product manager at Thales Aerospace, commented, "We worked with Altera and HCELL Engineering since the beginning of our project to ensure Altera's embedded processor core meets the safety standards of the European Aviation Safety Agency. The Nios II soft processor provides us with a compelling solution that meets our performance and system requirements, while allowing us to manage system obsolescence. With its DO-254 certification, the Nios II embedded processor can be integrated into our system with confidence."

Lionel Burgaud, DO-254 Users Group founder and chairman, added, "Altera has been a valuable member of the DO-254 Users Group since its inception in 2004. Altera and HCELL Engineering have made all the necessary efforts to understand the objectives and requirements of DO-254 in order to deliver a safety-critical version of the Nios II embedded processor."

Altera's Nios II embedded processor is a configurable, 32-bit FPGA-based soft microprocessor used in a wide variety of applications and end markets, including military, aerospace and avionics. The Nios II processor provides a high-performance, low-cost and flexible microprocessor core that is capable of meeting customers' unique demands. The processor core allows users to target a range of silicon, including CPLDs, FPGAs and HardCopy ASICs, covering nearly every customer's cost and performance needs.

"Altera's Nios II embedded processor is one of the most versatile embedded processors available, offering attractive features and high performance," said Majed Halila, managing director, HCELL Engineering. "As a result, the Nios II embedded processor enables engineers to avoid hardware obsolescence and get to market quickly, making it an ideal solution to use in avionics systems."

"The Nios II embedded processor provides an ideal solution to replace microcontrollers and microprocessors used in commercial avionics and military applications," said Karl-Heinz Gatterer, European military and aerospace marketing manager, Altera Corporation. "As a result of our work with HCELL Engineering over the past year, customers are now ready to leverage our embedded processor in their safety-critical avionics systems."

Availability

The DO-254-certifiable, safety-critical version of the Nios II embedded processor is available and supported by HCELL Engineering. For more information, contact an HCELL Engineering sales representative or visit www.hcell-engineering.com. For more information about the DO-254 Users Group and initiative, visit www.do254.com, and for more information about Altera's DO-254 Global Partner Network, visit http://www.altera.com/end-markets/military-aerospace/do-254/mil-do-254 .html. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

About HCELL Engineering

HCELL Engineering provides solutions and consulting services for safety-critical embedded-system applications targeting avionics, industrial and automotive markets. HCELL Engineering has expert knowledge on complex soft IP and custom design development according to the design assurance guidance for airborne electronics hardware, RTCA DO-254 up to DAL A, targeting FPGA and ASIC technologies. Further information is available on the HCELL Engineering website at www.hcell-engineering.com.

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 at www.altera.com.

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.

SOURCE: Altera Corporation

Altera Corporation
Steve Gabriel, 408-544-6397
newsroom@altera.com

Maxim's secure memory devices, priced at less than $1.00 (1000-up), incorporate both the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1), a thoroughly scrutinized public hash protocol developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the cost-effective 1-Wire(R) interface. This combination of technologies results in an elegant challenge-and-response authentication scheme that prevents unauthorized cloning of OEM FPGA designs.

The security solution utilizes a challenge-and-response-based authentication (identify friend or foe, or IFF) sequence between the FPGA and a 1-Wire secure memory device to differentiate between an authorized and a cloned environment. An authorized environment or product incorporates a 1-Wire secure memory, which has the correct OEM secret key. Once the FPGA determines that it is communicating in an authorized environment, it transitions to normal operation by enabling all the functions defined by the customer-specific configuration code stored in the SRAM. If the authentication sequence fails, the FPGA can either disable system operation or set system operation to reduced functionality.

Maxim's 1-Wire secure memories use the SHA-1 protocol, which has been thoroughly scrutinized and certified by the cryptographic community. We believe that SHA-1's public nature gives Maxim's secure memory devices more credence than solutions based on proprietary and private security algorithms that typically rely on "security by obscurity." Compared to authentication products which are based on encryption algorithms, Maxim's SHA-1 based security solutions are subject to significantly lower export restrictions, making them ideal for products that have broad international distribution.

Maxim's 1-Wire bus is a simple signaling scheme that combines data and power for device operation onto a single bus and ground return. This clever communication scheme allows designers to add memory, authentication, and mixed-signal functions while minimizing system interconnect. Learn more about 1-Wire at www.maxim-ic.com/1-Wire.

The complete FPGA security reference design is available on Altera's website. For an online presentation of how this security solution works, please visit www.maxim-ic.com/Cyclone.

Maxim Integrated Products, a two billion dollar company, designs and manufactures ICs for analog and mixed-signal applications. The company has designed over 5400 products, more than any other analog semiconductor company, in the 25 years since its founding.

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

Cyclone is a registered trademark of Altera Corporation.

1-Wire is a registered trademark of Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.

Editors' Contact:
Paresh Maniar
Executive Director, Investor Relations
408-470-5348

SOURCE: Maxim Integrated Products

"With a choice of the Altera Nios II processor core, the ARM Cortex M1 and now the Freescale V1 ColdFire processor, the Altera SOPC Builder tool is the best and most productive way to design systems with soft core processors and IP," said Chris Balough, director of marketing for software, embedded and DSP at Altera. "With the combination of premium processor cores and powerful easy-to-use tools to integrate these cores into designs, the Altera FPGA platform provides a unique value to system designers."

Availability

The 32-bit V1 ColdFire core for the Cyclone III FPGA family will be available via a free license from IPextreme, a semiconductor-technology licensing specialist, in the third quarter of 2008. For more information on Altera's embedded processor solutions, including the Nios II processor core, visit www.altera.com/embedded. The SOPC Builder tool is available in Quartus II design software. Both the subscription edition and the free web edition of Quartus II software version 8.0 are available for download at www.altera.com/download. The annual software subscription is $2,495 for a node-locked PC license and can be purchased at www.altera.com/buyquartus.

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 at www.altera.com.

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. Freescale, ColdFire, ARM and Cortex are the trademarks of their respective holders. All other product or service names are the property of their respective holder.

Safe Harbor

This contains "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally preceded by words that imply a future state or that imply that a particular future event or events will occur such as "will." Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation the risk that future performance is dependent on product development schedules, the design performance of software and other tools, as well as the company's and third parties' development technology and manufacture capabilities. Please refer to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, copies of which are available from the company without charge.

SOURCE: Altera Corporation

Altera Corporation
Mark Plungy, 408-544-6397
newsroom@altera.com