Analog Devices Multimedia Starter Kit Helps Developers Speed Time to Market with New Development Tools for Blackfin(R).

NORWOOD, Mass. -- New Blackfin Multimedia Starter Kit accelerates development of digital radio, mobile TV, automotive and home entertainment, and networked and streaming media applications; VisualDSP++(R)Release 4.5 introduced

Answering the demand for tools that help reduce time to market for embedded systems designs, Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE: ADI) has announced the Blackfin(R) Multimedia Starter Kit, which is geared to customers, integrators, and OEMs developing a broad scope of the convergent processing applications in which Blackfin excels, including next-generation digital radio, mobile TV, automotive and home entertainment, and networked and streaming media applications. The Blackfin Multimedia Starter Kit is supported by the new Release 4.5 of Analog Devices' VisualDSP++(R) integrated software development and debugging environment for Blackfin, SHARC(R), and TigerSHARC(R) Processors.

"It's important for us to provide easy access to standards-based multimedia software and tools for our customers because they are constantly driving to build better applications, faster, at a lower system cost," said Jerry McGuire, general manager, Convergent Platforms and Services Group, Analog Devices, Inc. "The Blackfin Multimedia Starter Kit is yet another way that we help developers get nearer to the capabilities of their end-products sooner."

New Tools Jump Start Development

The Blackfin Multimedia Starter Kit provides the building blocks for a range of multimedia applications, which enables designers to focus on product differentiation by bypassing lower-level, time-consuming tasks. It includes Blackfin EZ-KIT Lite(R) evaluation hardware and software and EZ-Extender(R) daughter cards in addition to the Blackfin SDK CD, which contains specifically designed multimedia software code that engineers can use to render and capture video and audio streams with various off-the-shelf multimedia devices. Sample code, how-to documents, and a selection of encoders and decoders provide a head start on development.

Multimedia algorithms available in the starter kit include JPEG, MJPEG, Ogg Vorbis, Speex, and a Simple Raster Graphics Package (SRGP). Also included are utilities for video and image processing, as well as high-speed Blackfin and PC communication drivers and utilities. The Multimedia Starter Kit will be immediately available for the ADSP-BF561, with support for additional processors to follow. Licensed users who already have the ADSP-BF561 Blackfin EZ-KIT Lite and the USB-LAN EZ-Extender and Audio-Video (A-V) EZ-Extender daughter boards may download the Blackfin SDK free of charge. Details are available at www.analog.com/multimediaSK.

In addition to supporting the new Blackfin Multimedia Starter Kit, VisualDSP++ Release 4.5 includes several new productivity-enhancing capabilities to the already robust and feature-rich integrated development and debugging environment. VisualDSP++ Release 4.5 includes many new components including a compiler "commentary track" that offers logical improvement suggestions to streamline code, enhancements to the manner in which users connect/disconnect from the target board for added stability, and a Linker Description File (LDF) generator wizard for fine-tuning a once complex step in the build process. Additional new features include a scriptable flash memory programmer, added exposure and access to hardware breakpoints, and caching project dependencies to improve build times.

An upgrade to Release 4.5 is free of charge to all registered users of VisualDSP++; licensed users of the EZ-KIT Lite evaluation platform may also update their evaluation version of VisualDSP++ software at no charge. More information and a free 90-day test drive download are available at analog.com/processors/tools.

Note to editors: A reviewer's guide will be available for the Blackfin Multimedia Starter Kit. Interested editors may contact Cynthia Hoye ([e-mail] or 408-239-0717) to learn more.

A Convergent Future Demands Blackfin-Class Processing

Analog Devices' Blackfin embodies a new breed of 16/32-bit embedded processor with the industry's highest performance and power efficiency for applications where a convergence of capabilities -- multi-format audio, video, voice, and image processing; multi-mode baseband and packet processing; and real-time security and control processing -- are critical. It is this powerful combination of software flexibility and scalability that has gained Blackfin adoption in convergent applications such as digital home entertainment, networked and streaming media, automotive telematics and infotainment, and digital radio and mobile TV.

About Analog Devices

Innovation, performance, and excellence are the cultural pillars on which Analog Devices has built one of the longest standing, highest growth companies within the technology sector. Acknowledged industry-wide as the world leader in data conversion and signal conditioning technology, Analog Devices serves over 60,000 customers, representing virtually all types of electronic equipment. Celebrating 40 years as a leading global manufacturer of high-performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications, Analog Devices is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, with design and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. Analog Devices' common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "ADI" and is included in the S&P 500 Index.

Blackfin, VisualDSP++, EZ-KIT Lite, EZ-Extender, SHARC, and TigerSHARC are registered trademarks of Analog Devices, Inc. All other trademarks included herein are the property of their respective owners.