Product category:
Design and Development Software
News Release from: Altera Europe | Subject: Quartus II
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 05 February 2004
Design software exploits latest FPGA
technology
The latest version of the Quartus II design software is now shipping with full support for the latest Stratix II FPGAs.
The latest version of the Quartus II design software is now shipping with full support for the latest Stratix II FPGAs The Quartus II software allows designers to tap the full potential of the Stratix II device family by handing them the most advanced technology for high-density FPGA design
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 27 May 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Software upgrade provides speed boost
Customers using the 8.0 release to design Altera's 65nm Stratix III FPGAs on Windows platforms will see compile times reduced by up to 50%.
Software speeds compiling
A Quartus II software user working with a multiprocessor computer will experience, on average, a 20% reduction in compile times over single-processor computers.
With the industry's easiest-to-use design flow methodology, system design capability, timing closure, and verification solution, this new version of the Quartus II software marks an industry milestone for delivering the most advanced development environment for FPGA design.
"In addition to providing the most advanced FPGA features, Altera is also on the leading edge with their development tools, and as a result, Quartus II software is the most powerful and easy-to-use FPGA software on the planet", said Perry J Brown, President, Odyssey Technologies.
"Here at Odyssey we specialise in the design and development of leading-edge sophisticated communications systems, and time-to-market is always critical, which is why we rely on Altera FPGAs and Quartus II software".
Further reading
Low-cost FPGAs released
To immediately start designing with Arria GX devices, customers can use Quartus II design software version 7.1.
FPGA design software doubles productivity
Altera claims its latest software helps designers achieve more than 2x faster compile times and half the memory footprint of the nearest high-end FPGA.
Design and development software for 65nm FPGAs
Quartus II software version 7.0 supports the entire 65nm Cyclone III FPGA family and is available in both subscription and free web editions.
"Software innovation and technology leadership are Altera's heritage, and this release of the Quartus II software continues this tradition.
We're seeing confirmation of our leadership in the marketplace", said Tim Southgate, Vice President of Software and Tools Marketing at Altera.
"The number of active Quartus II software seats has grown now for nine consecutive quarters because customers recognise that Altera's software technology leadership consistently translates into superior ease-of-use and faster time-to-market".
The Quartus II version 4.0 software, combined with technologies from Altera's EDA partners, delivers the industry's most advanced design methodologies for high-density FPGAs.
Altera's Quartus II software is the only design environment that allows designers to target both FPGAs and structured ASICs seamlessly.
With Altera's LogicLock methodology, the Quartus II software is the pre-eminent FPGA design tool to deliver a true block-based design flow, which provides unrivalled support for team-based designs.
Furthermore, Altera's Quartus II software is the only FPGA design tool that offers an industry-standard TCL scripting interface, allowing designers to mix-and-match between GUI and scripting design techniques.
This new version of the Quartus II software further accelerates design with the new memory compiler waveform generator that graphically supports 'what if' analysis by dynamically producing waveform displays of memory structure operation based on user parameterisation.
Altera's software development leadership is particularly evident in support for system-level design.
The SOPC Builder tool within the Quartus II design software is the programmable logic device (PLD) industry's only tool to support intellectual property (IP)-based design, including complete and automated system definition and implementation, without requiring lower-level HDL or schematics.
SOPC Builder leverages the extensive collection of IP from Altera and its Altera Megafunction Partners Programme (AMPP) members to provide a rich set of application-specific IP for rapid incorporation into a system-level design.
With this version of the Quartus II software, SOPC Builder builds on its leadership position with the improved support for multiprocessor systems, faster system generation, and automated board-aware configuration.
Quartus II software delivers the most comprehensive set of timing closure technologies in the FPGA industry.
With the FPGA industry's only integrated physical synthesis technology; the most powerful array of graphical analysis tools, the new RTL Viewer; Design Space Explorer, the industry's only automated performance optimisation tool; and an incremental fitting technology, Quartus II software delivers unmatched capability for designers to choose from highly automated or "power user" methods to reach aggressive goals for performance and area.
Additionally, advancements to the core place and route technology in Quartus II version 4.0 design software deliver, on average, 50% better Fmax and 18% faster compile time when targeting Stratix II FPGAs, and up to 50% faster compile time improvements for all PLD families when using the new Auto Fit feature.
In addition to integration with all of the leading third-party EDA verification tools and methodologies, Quartus II software provides advanced multi-clock timing analysis capabilities, integrated power analysis, a chip editor to implement design changes in system in just minutes, and the SignalTap II embedded logic analyser.
The SignalTap II embedded logic analyser supports the most channels, fastest clock speeds, largest sample depths available, and, with the Quartus II version 4.0 design software, now features the most advanced triggering capabilities available in an FPGA embedded logic analyser.
Quartus II version 4.0 design software is now shipping to all customers with an active software subscription.
The annual subscription for the Altera design software is $2000 for a node-locked PC licence.
Altera's software subscription programme simplifies the process of obtaining Altera design software by consolidating all software products and maintenance charges into one annual subscription payment.
The Quartus II design software supports major operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Sun Solaris, Red Hat Linux, and HP-UX.
New or existing customers may obtain a software subscription from the Altera website, where the free Quartus II Web Edition software is also available.
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