Free
Message: Actel claims to usher in era of `programmable system chip`

Actel claims to usher in era of `programmable system chip`

posted on Jul 19, 2005 11:58AM
Actel claims to usher in era of `programmable system chip`

EE Times

(07/18/2005 2:19 PM EDT)

SAN FRANCISCO — Billing it as the launch of the era of the ``programmable system chip`` (PSC), Actel Corp. Monday (July 18) introduced a new technology known as Fusion, designed to bring true programmability to mixed-signal solutions.

According to Actel (Mountain View, Calif.), Fusion is the first technology to integrate mixed-signal analog capabilities with flash memory and FPGA fabric in a monolithic PSC. The company said the technology takes advantage of the properties of Actel`s flash-based field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

``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, in a statement issued by Actel Monday. ``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.``

Actel said it is developing a series of major tool innovations to support Fusion technology. The tools, implemented as extensions to Actel`s Libero integrated design environment, are designed to 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.

Actel said initial products based on Fusion technology would be available in about six to nine months.

Share
New Message
Please login to post a reply