Altera continues rollout of tailored 28-nm product oortfolio with shipment of Arria V FPGAs

SAN JOSE, USA: Altera Corp. announced it has started shipping its 28-nm Arria V FPGAs. The Arria V devices are the lowest power midrange FPGAs available on the market today with 10.3125-Gbps transceiver technology.

The family's innovative features allow designers to tailor their low power, high bandwidth and low cost requirements for next-generation systems in the wireless, broadcast and military markets. The Arria V devices are the second family to ship from the company's 28-nm product portfolio following the shipment of its Stratix® V family in early 2011, underscoring Altera's commitment to deliver devices optimized to meet the diverse design needs of customers.

The Arria V family is developed on TSMC's 28-nm Low Power (28LP) process and offers the lowest total power, lowest static power, and lowest transceiver power of any midrange FPGA family, consuming up to 40 percent less power compared to previous generation devices. The family also delivers 50 percent lower static power and 50% lower transceiver power than any FPGA in its class. By leveraging Altera's proven transceiver leadership with its sixth-generation transceiver IP, the family is optimized to consume 100 mW of power at 10.3125-Gbps data rates.

Companies like CommScope, a global leader in infrastructure solutions for communications networks, leverage Altera's devices to achieve the right balance of high performance and low power necessary for their next-generation 4G wireless networks.

"After thorough evaluation of multiple alternatives, we chose Altera's Arria V FPGAs for our upcoming remote radio heads and active antenna systems because they provided the high performance and lowest power we needed while providing the best value in a very price-sensitive market," said Carmine Pagano, engineering fellow at CommScope.

"The Arria V devices we received will help us deliver 4G wireless infrastructure products with higher bandwidth, greater power efficiency and more cost effectiveness, enabling our customers to deliver optimal wireless coverage and quality of service while reducing their overall capital and operating expenses."

"The Arria V architecture, IP and development tools combined with TSMC's 28LP process enable our customers to achieve an optimized balance of cost, power and performance," said Patrick Dorsey, senior director of product marketing at Altera. "Our investment in tailoring the family to meet the unique requirements of wireless, broadband and military applications will ensure customers achieve the best performance per watt for their applications."