For Release: May 9, 2001
Alain Bismuth to Spearhead Altera's New Market Development
New Focus on Markets that Present a $5.8 Billion Business Opportunity
over the Next Three Years
San Jose, Calif., May 9, 2001 -- Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) today announced the appointment of Alain Bismuth as vice president of new market development. Bismuth will spearhead Altera's expansion in new markets such as digital entertainment, data storage, and office automation. These fast-growing markets not only necessitate Altera's flexible and cost-effective system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions, but also present a $5.8 billion business opportunity over the next three years, according to a recent Dataquest report.
Last year, Altera reported over $400 million in revenue from markets beyond the communications sector, and the demand for programmable logic is rapidly growing. For example, in the digital entertainment market, there is a widening gap between the pace of new product introduction - which for products such as HDTV, digital set-top-boxes, DVD, personal video recorders, and handheld computers is generally less than one year - and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) development cycles. Programmable logic devices (PLDs) can bridge this gap by providing the flexibility necessary to cope with changing standards and new market requirements up until the very last stage of conception, thus avoiding the risk of costly changes and delays to the market.
"Bismuth will be instrumental in enabling Altera to advance PLD usage in these target markets, where a fast-growing demand for programmable logic is imminent," said Erik Cleage, Altera's senior vice president of marketing. "Makers of equipment such as digital entertainment systems will benefit from Altera's SOPC solutions in that they can alleviate soaring development costs, facilitate faster time to market, and keep pace with emerging new standards and technologies, all of which are key to remaining synchronized with today's fast-paced marketplace."
Bismuth brings extensive product strategy, development, and marketing experience from both LSI Logic Corporation, where he was marketing director of consumer DVD products, and Oak Technology, where he was vice president of the DVD program.
In expanding Altera's new market development efforts, Bismuth will leverage Altera's existing relationships with major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide, ASSP suppliers and key design houses, many of which work with Altera through its Altera Consultants Alliance Program (ACAP®) and Certified Design Center (CDC) partnership programs.
"The suitability of PLD technology to digital entertainment, data storage, and office automation markets is clear," said Bismuth. "Altera provides system-level SOPC solutions that can now be applied throughout the entire product cycle, from prototyping through production, helping customers achieve their time-to-market and time-to-volume goals with the flexible, yet cost-effective approach of PLD technology."
About Altera
Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company®, was founded in 1983 and is a leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs). Altera's CMOS-based PLDs are user-programmable semiconductor chips that enhance flexibility and reduce time-to-market for companies in the communications, computer peripheral, and industrial markets. By using high performance devices, software development tools, and sophisticated intellectual property cores, system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions can be created with embedded processors, memory, and other complex logic together on a single PLD. Altera common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ALTR. More information on Altera is available on the Internet at http://www.altera.com.
Safe Harbor
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally preceded by words that imply a future state such as "expected" or that imply that a particular future event or events will occur such as "will". Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation the risk that future performance is dependent on product development schedules, the design performance of software and other tools, as well as the company's and third parties' development technology and manufacture capabilities. Please refer to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, copies of which are available from the company without charge.
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