Actel Announces that ProASIC Plus Delivers IP Video-On-Demand

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA– Actel Corporation today announced that the companys ProASIC Plus field-programmable gate arrays were chosen by Integen Technologies to implement the core of its cable modem design, which forms part of its Guest Room Integrated Delivery System (GRIDS) product used by several leading hotel chains throughout North America. The patent-pending product delivers IP-based services, such as Integens Premier Vision(TM) video-on-demand, high-speed Internet and voice-over-IP telephony. Actels single-chip ProASIC Plus devices were chosen for their ability to provide high performance while also lowering overall system costs by eliminating the need for various support components on the system board. “Actels ProASIC Plus devices gave us the price and performance of an ASIC without the expensive NREs and development risk,” said Martin Alcock, president and CEO, Integen Technologies Inc. “By using the flash-based, live at power-up ProASIC Plus devices instead of SRAM-based FPGAs, we were able to reduce our overall system component count by eliminating not only the need for external program memories but also reducing the design requirements of our power supplies at the same time. We value the capabilities offered by these single-chip FPGAs that can mimic ASICs, and we plan to use Actels technology for future designs.” “In the hospitality industry, delivering new services to hotel guests at a low cost is always a challenge,” said Martin Mason, director, flash product marketing at Actel. “Since overall system cost is a driver for Integen Technologies, our ProASIC Plus devices are an exceptional fit. This flash-based, single-chip device gives Integen Technologies ASIC-like pricing today while maintaining the FPGA benefits of flexibility and reprogrammability.” The Integen cable modem design is implemented on an Actel APA150 device. The Guest Room Integrated Delivery System is a combined platform that consists of a modem in each guest room and a backroom engine that provides digital video and guest room Internet access using existing cabling, the company reports, adding,. GRIDS is the only product that concurrently delivers video-on-demand and Internet access in the economy hotel marketplace. Unlike SRAM-based FPGAs that must be programmed by off-chip memory, the ProASIC Plus devices are built on a nonvolatile flash fabric, which retains the design even when in a powered-down state, making them live at power-up and eliminating the SRAM FPGA system cost penalty. Because there is no need for external configuration memory, Actels flash-based ProASIC Plus FPGAs require less area on the board, use less power and simplify board and system design., the announcement states.