Clear Logic Replaces Altera MAX 7512AE CPLDs With Low Cost, No NRE LPLDs; Free Configured, Socket-compatible Samples Available Over the Internet in Three Weeks.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2001

Clear Logic(R) today introduced a no NRE, quick turn-around, LPLD(R) production replacement device for another Altera(R) MAX(R) 7000 CPLD. The CL7512AE is a low-cost, socket-compatible replacement for Altera's largest MAX 7512AE CPLD. The LPLD Link-Processed Logic Device is configured directly from any MAX 7512AE programming file that is submitted to Clear Logic's Web site, www.clear-logic.com. There is no customer-side re-engineering of any kind, and the entire process takes the designer less than five minutes. Within two to three weeks, Clear Logic ships configured CL7512AE samples that are guaranteed to work in the Altera MAX 7512AE socket to the designer. Clear Logic handles the entire process, and there is no charge for the samples. Production quantities are priced as low as 60% below the functionally equivalent MAX device and are available within four weeks.

According to Don Knowlton, Clear Logic's vice president of marketing, "Clear Logic's patented LPLD technology allows us to offer factory configurable devices with the same functionality and pin-out of Altera parts, but without any of the transistors that are associated with user-programmability. The result is that the device we are introducing today, the CL7512AE, has about a million fewer transistors than the MAX 7512AE. Our die size is 45% smaller than Altera's and our LPLD typically consumes 30% less power.

"There are no NRE charges and configured samples are free, so there is absolutely no risk to the designer. We would like every designer who is using a MAX 7512AE to submit to us the MAX 7512AE programming file for their design today. We will ship them free configured parts that they can then plug into the same board they used for the Altera part. It only takes a couple of minutes, and it doesn't cost a cent.

"When we went to a major distributor's Web site for a volume quote on the MAX part, the posted price was in the $100 per unit range," Knowlton explained. "Even if market prices are one-half the web-posted EPM7512AE quote, migrating production usage to Clear Logic's CL7512AE could save hundreds of thousands of dollars on a production run of a few thousand units," Knowlton concluded.

Completely Web-based Fabrication -- Designers can get configured sample CL7512AE LPLD devices over the Internet by logging on to Clear Logic's web site, www.clear-logic.com, and submitting their MAX 7512AE programming file to Clear Logic. Within two to three weeks, Clear Logic will ship configured samples that are guaranteed to function in the same socket as the Altera MAX 7512AE. Clear Logic does not charge for the sample configured devices. Production quantities are available within four to six weeks, about the same amount of time required to get pre-programmed Altera parts from distribution.

Over 1,300 Successful Migrations of Altera-compatible Designs -- Clear Logic has successfully migrated over 1,300 programming files to its LPLDs and LASICs(R) since the company started production in 1998. Major customers, including Cisco, Matsushita, and NEC are currently using Clear Logic LPLDs for volume production. The success of these design migrations validates the interchangeability, in the same socket, between Clear Logic's LPLDs and Altera CPLDs.

Clear Logic CL7000 LPLD Architecture -- The CL7512AE is a Link-Processed Logic Device (LPLD), created using Clear Logic's link-configuration technology, which replaces transistors with vertical links in vias on the device. The CL7512AE architecture contains similar functional logic structures to Altera's MAX family of CPLDs, including macrocells. This architectural compatibility between the two devices allows the CL7512AE to perform the same logic functions as the corresponding MAX CPLD, based directly on the MAX programming file, eliminating any need for a design "conversion."

Rather than using transistors for configuration, the CL7512AE interconnect functions and input terms are configured by severing the vertical interconnect links on the device. This technology eliminates hundreds of thousands of transistors. No transistors are required in the CL7512AE interconnect array and only a single transistor is required for each input term in the AND array. In contrast, Altera's user-programmable MAX 7512AE requires eleven transistors for each element in the programmable interconnect array and six transistors for each AND array input term. Altogether, there are about one million more transistors in the MAX 7512AE than there are in the CL7512AE. The MAX 7512AE programmable interconnect array uses three and one-half times as much silicon as the interconnect array in the CL7512AE. The MAX 7512AE product term AND array uses more than twice as much silicon as the implementation from Clear Logic.

By allowing Clear Logic to maintain the same functionality of the MAX 7512AE CPLD with many fewer transistors, Clear Logic's link-configuration technology results in a die that is 45% smaller than the MAX 7512AE die, allowing Clear Logic to offer substantially lower prices.

Pricing and Availability -- Clear Logic's CL7512AE LPLDs are available now in production quantities in 144 TQFP, 208 PQFP, and 256 BGA packages, with propagation delays of 6 ns, 7 ns, 10 ns and 12 ns.

Prices start at $11.60 for the CL7512AETC144-12, in quantities of 100,000.

Clear Logic employs proprietary software that converts the programming file from a CPLD to a link-processed logic device. Clear Logic products are idea low cost replacements for CPLDs in production applications. There are no NRE charges or minimum order sizes. Clear Logic devices arrive at the customer's site fully pre-configured and ready to plug in the socket. These devices are guaranteed to function identically to their CPLD counterparts. Clear Logic's World Wide Web site is www.clear-logic.com.

Note to Editors: Clear Logic and LPLD are registered trademarks of Clear Logic. Altera and MAX are registered trademarks of Altera Corporation.