Altera's Industry-Leading Quartus II Design Software Now Available in Web Edition; Systems Developers Praise Quartus II Software, Free Web Edition Now Available.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2001

Digital systems developers can now take advantage of the programmable logic industry's leading design environment free of charge with the Quartus(R) II Web Edition software, Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR) announced today. The Quartus II Web Edition software is a design, place-and-route, and verification environment available as a free download from the Altera web site, www.altera.com. Based on the popular Quartus II design software, the Quartus II Web Edition includes the same PowerFit(TM) place-and-route technology, allowing users to experience the performance and lightning-fast run times delivered by the full version of the Quartus II design software.

Altera's Quartus II design software, the leading PLD design environment, has been receiving accolades from systems developers because it enables them to quickly and reliably complete large, complex system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) designs. Dominique Deprey, design development team leader at Alcatel, said, "We found the Quartus II software to be an intuitive, powerful tool that is also well-integrated with other EDA tools."

At Echotek, a leading designer of high-performance wideband receivers and transmitters for RF, radar, and software defined radio applications, design engineer Brian Kimball stated, "In the past, we spent a great amount of time optimizing designs to meet our high performance requirements. With Quartus II software, we're easily meeting all of our timing requirements at the push of a button."

Ed Richardson, also a design engineer at Echotek, added, "Quartus II software enables me to do in one week what it took two weeks to accomplish in the competitor's tool."

"I have found Quartus II software to be extremely fast and reliable," noted Mark Leveto, principal engineer of The Appcon Group. "In my recent projects, Quartus II software has been able to deliver my targeted f(MAX) clock frequencies in even the most complex of designs in the largest devices."

Leveto concluded, "As a systems design consultant, I have to keep abreast of the latest offerings from all PLD vendors, and none of the other programmable logic vendors can come close to what Altera offers."

PowerFit Place and Route Technology

The Quartus II Web Edition software provides high performance and ultra fast compile times by including the same PowerFit(TM) place-and-route technology included in the Quartus II version 1.1 software. PowerFit technology uses the designer's detailed timing requirements to optimally place and route a design to meet requested performance targets easily.

Risk-Free Evaluation

Quartus II Web Edition software includes all of the features needed to target selected APEX(TM) 20KE, FLEX 10KE, and FLEX 6000 family devices to meet a broad range of design needs. Customers can use the Quartus II Web Edition software to evaluate Altera devices and try out designs in real silicon absolutely risk free.

About Quartus II Design Software

Quartus II Web Edition software is based on the industry leading Quartus II design Software. Altera's Quartus II software delivers superior designer productivity and supports system-level designs with features including the PowerFit(TM) fitter technology, support for multi-million gate devices, and integration with third party tools. Quartus II extends the user's scope beyond hardware by including a software workflow that offers C/C++ compilers and debuggers in a fully integrated development environment to support Altera's Excalibur(TM) embedded processor solutions. The Quartus II software supports major operating systems, including Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, Sun Solaris, and HP-UX. In May, Altera announced plans to offer support for the Red Hat Linux operating system.

Pricing and Availability

Quartus II Web Edition software is available at no charge on the Altera web site now. Quartus II Web Edition software will also be available on future versions of the free Altera Digital Library CD-ROM.

About Altera

Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company(R), was founded in 1983 and is a leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs). Altera's CMOS-based PLDs are user-programmable semiconductor chips that enhance flexibility and reduce time-to-market for companies in the communications, computer peripheral, and industrial markets. By using high performance devices, software development tools, and sophisticated intellectual property cores, system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions can be created with embedded processors, memory, and other complex logic together on a single PLD. Altera common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ALTR. More information on Altera is available on the Internet at http://www.altera.com.

Note to Editors: 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 holders.