Actel Introduces Fusion Technology and Ushers in Era of the Programmable System Chip
Actel Fusion Technology Combines Analog Peripherals, Flash Memory
and FPGA Fabric in a Monolithic Programmable System Chip
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 18, 2005 —
Actel Corporation
(Nasdaq: ACTL) today unveiled its Fusion technology, launching the era
of the Programmable System Chip (PSC). Leveraging its leadership position
in flash-based FPGAs, the company has developed the industry's first
technology designed to bring true programmability to mixed-signal solutions.
The Actel Fusion™ technology is the first to integrate mixed-signal analog
capabilities with flash memory and FPGA fabric in a monolithic PSC.
The Actel Fusion technology brings the benefits of programmable logic
to application areas that until now have only been served by discrete
analog component and mixed-signal ASIC suppliers. This new technology
takes advantage of the unique properties of Actel's flash-based FPGAs,
including a high-isolation, triple-well process and the ability to support
high-voltage transistors to meet the demanding requirements of mixed-signal
system design. In addition, when used in conjunction with Actel's ARM7
and 8051-based soft MCU cores, the Actel Fusion technology represents
the definitive PSC platform.
"The insatiable demand for increased integration and flexibility
continues to fuel the industry's race toward programmable system chip
solutions," explained John East, president and CEO of Actel. "With
the creation of the Actel Fusion technology, we aim to simplify the way
systems are designed. Leveraging the unique expertise acquired while
creating the industry's leading flash-based FPGA devices, we have brought
together the reprogrammable advantages of Actel's advanced flash FPGAs
with analog components and large flash memory blocks into a landmark
single-chip solution."
The Actel Fusion technology presents new capabilities for system development
by allowing designers to use the same silicon for a variety of applications
and/or quickly adapt to rapidly changing standards.
"End applications continue to demand increased flexibility, configurability
and performance, while at the same time reducing power demands, board
space and cost," said Rich Wawrzyniak, senior analyst at Semico
Research. "The horizontal integration of analog, memory, logic
and soft MCU implementations, in a single chip has the potential to create
new markets and alter the current landscape of system design."
Comprehensive Mixed-Signal FPGA Technology
The new Actel Fusion technology will enable designers to design at both
very high and very low levels of abstraction. Fusion peripherals include
hard analog IP and hard and/or soft digital IP. Peripherals will communicate
across the FPGA fabric via a layer of soft gates — the Fusion Backbone.
Much more than a bus interface, the Actel Fusion Backbone integrates
a micro-sequencer within the FPGA fabric and will configure the individual
peripherals and support low-level processing of peripheral data.
The Actel Fusion technology will also give designers unprecedented levels
of flexibility by allowing them to easily reconfigure analog block settings
to perform widely different functions by simply downloading data from
embedded flash memory.
To support this new ground-breaking technology, Actel is developing
a series of major tool innovations to help maximize designer productivity.
Implemented as extensions to Actel's popular Libero Integrated Design
Environment (IDE), these new tools will allow designers to easily instantiate
and configure peripherals within a design, establish links between peripherals,
create or import building blocks or reference designs, and perform hardware/software
verification. This tools suite will also add a comprehensive hardware/software
debug capability as well as a suite of utilities to simplify development
of embedded soft ARM and 8051 processor-based solutions.
Actel expects initial products based on its Fusion technology to be
available in approximately 6 to 9 months.
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).
Contact: Stephanie Mrus, Actel Corporation, 650.318.4614
