Altera Starts Production Shipments of the Industry's First FPGAs with Integrated 11.3-Gbps Transceivers

Five of the Top Seven DWDM Suppliers Select Stratix IV GT FPGAs for Their 100G
Development

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced it has started shipping in
production its Stratix IV GT EP4S100G2 FPGA, the industry's first FPGA featuring
integrated 11.3-Gbps transceivers. Stratix IV GT FPGAs are the only single-chip
devices available today that meet the high-speed bandwidth requirements for
next-generation framer, MAC, bridging and switching applications for 100-Gigabit
Ethernet (GbE) and 100-Gigabit Optical Transport Networks (OTN). Altera's proven
high-density, high-performance 100G solutions enable communications systems
designers developing 100G systems to accelerate their time to market and reduce
risk compared to ASICs, ASSPs and other currently available FPGA technologies.

Altera's 100G solutions include production silicon, 100G intellectual property
(IP), 100G reference designs and development boards supporting 100G
applications. To date, a wide range of customers have adopted Stratix IV GT
FPGAs for use in 100G systems and platforms, including 100G test equipment, 100G
Ethernet transport, 10 x 10 GbE aggregation and OTN applications. Additionally,
five of the top seven DWDM suppliers selected Stratix IV GT FPGAs for their 100G
development.

Stratix IV GT FPGAs are designed to meet the emerging IEEE 802.3 standard for
100G systems used in advanced wireline and military communications systems and
high-end test equipment. Stratix IV GT FPGAs are available today to meet
customer production demands and performance requirements as these 100G standards
become finalized. The 36 transceiver channels featured in the EP4S100G2 operate
from 2.488 Gbps to 11.3 Gbps, and provide the FPGA industry's lowest jitter
performance to meet 10G, 40G and 100G protocol specifications. The 11.3-Gbps
integrated transceivers eliminate the need for an external PHY, allowing for a
direct interface between the Stratix IV GT FPGA and 10G, 40G or 100G optical
modules.

The Stratix IV GT EP4S100G2 FPGA is a single device that lowers system power,
reduces board complexity and lowers overall development costs while offering the
following capabilities:

* Fastest transceivers-36 total transceivers, 24 of which operate at 11.3 Gbps
* Lowest system power-low 0.95-V core power
* Best-in-class signal integrity-features noise filtering with on-die and
on-package decoupling
* Fastest memory interface-1,067-Mbps (533-MHz) DDR3 memory
* Rich in resources-230K logic elements (LEs), 13.9-Mbits internal RAM, and
1,288 18 x 18 multipliers

"The increasing number of broadband subscribers worldwide is driving
telecommunications equipment manufacturers to rapidly build out their 100G
network infrastructure, and FPGAs are playing a vital role in enabling this
build out," said Luanne Schirrmeister, senior director of component product
marketing at Altera. "As the first and only FPGA vendor shipping devices today
with integrated 11.3 Gbps transceivers capable of meeting 100G system demands,
Altera is leading the charge in enabling the deployment of 100G systems."

Availability

The Stratix IV GT EP4S100G2 FPGA is now shipping in volume production. Contact
your Altera sales representative for pricing. For additional information
regarding Altera's Stratix IV GT FPGA, visit www.altera.com/pr/stratixivgt.

About Altera

Altera programmable solutions enable system and semiconductor companies to
rapidly and cost-effectively innovate, differentiate and win in their markets.
Find out more about Altera's FPGA, CPLD and ASIC devices at www.altera.com.

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Altera, the Altera logo, and all other words that are identified as trademarks
are, unless noted otherwise, Registered, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and
the trademarks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other
product or service names are the property of their respective holders.

Altera Corporation
Steve Gabriel, 408-544-6397
newsroom@altera.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009