First Programmable Logic Vendor to Obtain Certification

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continuing to provide the highest quality and reliability levels available to the aerospace and avionics markets, Actel Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTL) today announced it has become the first field-programmable gate array (FPGA) vendor to achieve SAE/AS9100 certification. Increasingly required by aerospace suppliers world-wide, Actel received the stringent AS9100 certification for its Quality Management System (QMS), which certifies that the company's processes related to design and manufacture of its low-power, programmable logic solutions have met or exceeded the required standard.

"Actel's SAE/AS9100 certification eases the part acquisition process for our aerospace and avionics customers around the world," said Ken O'Neill director of military products, for Actel. "Further, the achievement of this certification allows our customers to purchase Actel products with the confidence that they are getting the highest quality and reliability while ensuring their cost of ownership goals are met or exceeded."

Today, the aircraft industry is challenged with mandates to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to obtain cost benefits, yet tasked with meeting extremely high reliability goals. The AS9100 certification has the benefits of reducing costs and improving reliability by consolidating and standardizing the quality requirements and quality systems employed by suppliers to the aerospace and avionics industry.

The AS9100 standard was developed by Working Group 11 of ISO TC20 and was supported by the International Aerospace Quality Group in order to satisfy internal, government, and regulatory requirements.

Actel FPGA Devices Offer Flight-proven Reliability

Aerospace and avionics applications require high levels of reliability while typically operating in a harsh environment. Unlike SRAM-based devices, which experience neutron-induced firm errors, Actel FPGAs offer immunity to neutron-induced configuration upsets, making them better suited to aerospace operational altitudes. Actel's devices are also live at power up, allowing system-critical applications to recover immediately from power out or brownout conditions that can occur from lightning strikes, system or power supply glitches, neutron-induced system resets, and RF interference.

With more than 20 years of flight-proven reliability, Actel offers low-power flash- and antifuse-based FPGAs for use in aerospace and avionics applications. Actel's AS9100 certification can be viewed at http://www.actel.com/documents/AS9100-2004_Certificate.pdf. More information about Actel's aerospace and avionics offerings can be found at http://www.actel.com/products/solutions/milaero/default.aspx.

About Actel

Actel is the leader in low-power and mixed-signal FPGAs and offers the most comprehensive portfolio of system and power management solutions. Power Matters. Learn more at http://www.actel.com.

The Actel name and logo are trademarks of Actel Corporation. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

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