Actel FPGAs Selected by Indesign for Innovative Wireless High-Fidelity Streaming Audio Platform
Leading Engineering Design Services Firm Leverages Actel's Flash-Based
ProASICPLUS Devices for Superior IP Protection, Increased
Design Flexibility and Reduced Cost
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., September 27, 2004 —
Actel Corporation
(Nasdaq: ACTL) today announced that its flash-based field-programmable
gate arrays (FPGAs) were selected by Indesign, LLC, a leading electronic
design engineering company, for use in Indesign's JS-2 Wireless High-Fidelity
Streaming Audio Platform. Indesign's JS-2 system provides a robust, CD-quality,
near zero latency, wireless audio link between an audio source and speakers,
headphones or other high-fidelity audio components. Indesign selected
Actel's single-chip, live at power-up ProASICPLUS FPGAs to
serve as the receiver-side baseband processor and perform various system
control functions between the baseband processor and the CODEC. The ProASICPLUS devices
also serve as an interface for configuring components in the radio subsection
of the JS-2 wireless system.
"Because our JS-2 system uses proprietary, patent-pending signalling
algorithms to deliver the right balance of high data rate and extended
range, we needed a solution that would protect our intellectual property,
yet still offer the ability to change the design to meet a customer's
specifications," said Jerry Gotway, President of Indesign. "Virtually
impossible to copy or reverse engineer, Actel's ProASICPLUS flash-based
FPGAs gave us increased security compared to a hardwired ASIC, with all
of the flexibility typically associated with a programmable device."
Martin Mason, director of flash product marketing at Actel, said, "Indesign
has a solid reputation for delivering innovative electronic products
for its customers in the consumer, medical, military and communications
markets. In addition to providing Indesign with unprecedented design
security, our single-chip ProASICPLUS FPGAs allowed Indesign
to reduce its overall system component count versus using an SRAM-based
FPGA, leading to savings in system cost and board space."
Indesign's patent-pending baseband processor is implemented using an
APA075 device from Actel's ProASICPLUS family. The receiver
baseband processor performs many system functions including communication
with the radio frequency (RF) section, forward error correction and interface
with the CODEC. Together with a state-of-the-art radio, the system delivers
96 decibels (dB) of dynamic range and 20 hertz (Hz) to 20 kilohertz (kHz)
frequency response with less than one millisecond (msec) of latency.
Given the cost savings and security benefits that Indesign has realized
using Actel devices, the company plans to implement future versions of
its transmitter baseband processor using Actel devices as well.
Protecting intellectual property (IP) is paramount to a company's success
in the marketplace. For increased design security, Actel's ProASICPLUS devices
include the FlashLock feature, whereby special security keys are hidden
throughout the fabric of the device to prevent internal probing and overwriting.
The keys are located in such a way that they make both invasive and subtler,
non-invasive attacks against the ProASICPLUS FPGAs very difficult.
The secure ProASICPLUS devices are virtually immune from over-building
during manufacturing or from cloning once the final system has shipped.
About ProASICPLUS
The ProASICPLUS family consists of devices ranging from 75,000
to 1 million system gates. The combination of a fine-grained, single-chip
ASIC-like architecture and nonvolatile flash configuration memory makes
Actel's ProASICPLUS offering a strong ASIC alternative. The
devices are live at power-up, low power, highly secure, resistant to
neutron-induced firm errors and require no separate configuration memory,
all characteristics shared by ASICs. The ProASICPLUS architecture
and design methodology support popular FPGA and ASIC tool flows, reducing
time-to-market and permitting designers to migrate easily between FPGA
and ASIC solutions.
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 more than 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.
Contact: Stephanie Mrus, Actel Corporation, 650.318.4614
