Atmel Launches Low-Cost Starter Kit for CAP Customizable Microcontroller

San Jose, California, November 14 (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Facilitates Low-Cost, No-Risk Evaluation of CAP Capabilities

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) today announced the launch of
the AT91CAP9A-STK Starter Kit for its CAP(TM) Customizable
Microcontroller product family. The CAP Starter Kit is the ideal
vehicle for low-cost, no-risk evaluation of the customization
capabilities of the CAP MCU by mapping application-specific IP blocks
into its FPGA that emulates the functionality of the CAP's embedded
Metal Programmable (MP) Block.

Built on a single PCB including a AT91CAP9S ARM926EJ-S(R)-based
microcontroller, 64M Bytes of SDRAM application memory, 512M Bytes of
NAND Flash and an optional DataFlash with up to 8M Bytes, together
with external interfaces for Ethernet, USB Host and Device, 1/4 VGA
LCD Panel with Touch Screen, SD Card, 4 analog inputs and audio
headphones, the CAP Starter Kit features an Altera(R) Stratix(R)2
EP2S15F484 FPGA and its associated EPCS16 serial configuration
memory. The FPGA provides 15600 four-input Lookup Table (LUT)
equivalents, corresponding to approximately 124800 gates in the CAP
MP Block. For application-specific external interfaces, the AT91CAP9S
has 64 general-purpose I/O connections, and the FPGA has 2 banks of
64 I/Os. Debug is facilitated by the provision of an ICE-JTAG
interface for CAP9 JTAG programming, and a USB-Blaster-JTAG interface
for Stratix2 JTAG programming. The CAP Starter Kit also includes
Atmel's AT73C224 and AT73C239 ICs for power supply and battery
management.

Michel Le Lan, Atmel's Marketing Director for Application-Specific
Products, commented, "The CAP Starter Kit significantly enlarges the
CAP user community. It lowers even further the cost barrier for
developing a customized microcontroller. It can be used by anyone
from a developer in a tier 1 electronics company to the smallest
startup to find out how easy it is to customize an ARM-based
system-on-chip for a specific application. It is also the ideal
vehicle for students of electronics engineering to consolidate their
knowledge of system-on-chip hardware and software design."

About CAP

Atmel's CAP(TM) is an ARM(R) microcontroller-based system-on-chip
with fast local memory, a wide range of industry-standard peripherals
and interfaces, and a Metal Programmable (MP) Block that allows the
designer to add custom logic. By combining the performance, density
and low power consumption of the fixed portion of the device with the
flexibility of the MP Block, CAP enables application-specific
products to be developed in a fraction of the time and at a fraction
of the cost of standard-cell ASICs, but at a unit price close to that
of standard cell devices. CAP also offers superior performance,
smaller form factor and lower power consumption at a unit price
significantly lower than an MCU-plus-FPGA combination for the same
functionality. CAP is fully supported with an emulation board,
software development tools, operating systems, code modules and a
worldwide network of expert design centers to facilitate application
software development. The CAP MP Block can be personalized with IP
developed by the customer, by third-party design centers or from
Atmel's extensive libraries.

Availability and Pricing

The AT91CAP9A-STK Starter Kit is now available. The AT91CAP9A-STK
Starter Kit is priced at US$750.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory
and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's
broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is
able to provide the electronics industry with complete system
solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications,
computing and automotive markets.

(C) 2007 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), logo
and combinations thereof, and others, are registered trademarks,
CAP(TM) and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its
subsidiaries. ARM(R) is a registered trademark of ARM Ltd. Altera(R)
and Stratix(R) are registered trademarks of Altera Corporation. Other
terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:

Atmel's AT91CAP product information may be retrieved at
http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91CAP/

Press Contacts:
Peter Bishop, Communications manager, Atmel Rousset, Europe
Phone: +33-(0)-4-42-53-61-50, Email: peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com
Helen Perlegos, Public Relations, US and Asia
Phone: +1-408-487-2963, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com

Web site: http://www.atmel.com

ots Originaltext: Atmel Corporation
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Contact:
Peter Bishop, Communications manager, Atmel Rousset, Europe,
+33-(0)-4-42-53-61-50, peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com, or Helen Perlegos,
Public Relations, US and Asia, +1-408-487-2963, hperlegos@atmel.com,
both of Atmel Corporation