Altera and El Camino to Deliver SOPC Design Services.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif. and MAINBURG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2001

El Camino, a programmable logic design house based in Germany, and Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR), a leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs), today announced that El Camino has been selected as an Altera Certified Design Center (CDC) partner. The partnership will provide customers with system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) design services, including designs that involve intellectual property (IP) integration and Altera's new Excalibur(TM) embedded processor solutions.

To unleash the true power and flexibility delivered by SOPC solutions, customers and design houses must engage at an early stage when system-level features are defined. Customer application expertise is complemented by El Camino's ability to find and then realize innovative and effective system implementations. Altera's Excalibur embedded processor solutions and IP MegaCore(R) portfolio offer unique and unprecedented customer benefits; it is now feasible to utilize multiple processor cores, like the Nios(TM) soft-core embedded processor, on a single PLD; it is also feasible to fine-tune the software/hardware tradeoffs between an embedded ARM(R) processor core and custom, dedicated hardware to gain performance.

To ensure El Camino's success as an Altera Certified Design Center partner, Altera will provide El Camino further training on its Excalibur embedded processor solutions. "As certified experts, El Camino engineers will enable customers to smoothly deploy our new Excalibur embedded processor solutions, which, by combining logic, memory, and a processor core, allow engineers to integrate an entire system on a single programmable logic device," commented Anna Chiang, Altera director of Excalibur marketing.

El Camino's background in system-on-chip (SoC) design directly applies to Excalibur embedded processor designs. "We are pleased to be part of Altera's CDC program, and look forward to expanding our segment coverage by offering Altera's customers with the highest quality SOPC design services," said Andreas Bahrs, managing director of sales at El Camino.

El Camino brings more than 15 years of experience to programmable logic design with employees who have regularly received extensive training directly from Altera in the USA, the UK, and in Germany, as well as training from ARM and Verisity in tools, architectures, cores, and verification. "We know programmable logic architectures and development tools inside-out. Our in-depth knowledge allows us to achieve optimal results with the highest performance and utilization in any given programmable architecture," said Albert Lindmeier, managing director of design and engineering at El Camino.

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.

About El Camino

El Camino GmbH, Your Programmable Logic Design House, was founded in 1999 and is a fast growing competence center specialized in programmable logic. Focus areas are Design, Training, and Consultancy around PLD/FPGA designs where El Camino offers extensive know-how. More than a dozen highly qualified employees at the customers hand, ready to solve all programmable logic needs. El Camino with its background in system-on-chip (SOC) design is a key partner enabling customers to unleash the unprecedented power and flexibility of system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. The company name has been derived from the famous street "El Camino Real" in the Silicon Valley, California/USA. El Camino is Spanish and means "the way". The name stands for El Camino's mission, supporting the user of programmable logic on his/her way to success.

Note to Editors: Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, Excalibur, Nios, and specific device designations are trademarks and/or service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. MIPS is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.