ROUSSET, France and TAIPEI, Taiwan, February 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- Illustrates Ease and Rapidity of CAP Application Development; JPEG Compression and De-compression IP available from PGC

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) and PGC (Progate Group Corporation) announced today the availability of a JPEG image viewer reference design ported onto the low-cost AT91CAP9A-STK Starter Kit for Atmel's AT91CAP9S Customizable Microcontroller. When connected to a host PC via its USB Device Port, the CAP-STK appears as a mass storage device for JPEG images. Running stand-alone, the CAP-STK de-compresses the images and displays them on its VGA screen, using JPEG de-compression and display IP supplied by PGC, and mapped into the FPGA that emulates CAP's Metal Programmable block.

Michel Le Lan, Atmel's Marketing Director for ASICs, commented, This reference design highlights CAP's benefits for application developers. The JPEG IP is easily mapped into the CAP(TM) Metal Programmable block, where it runs extremely efficiently, and can co-exist with other application-specific functions. The USB Device Port is just one of CAP's many standard interfaces, enabling rapid data transfer from external sources. The CAP Starter Kit is very attractively priced, lowering the barrier to entry for customers with modest development budgets.

EJ Chiang, PGC's Sales Marketing Director, commented, Atmel's CAP series provides a robust ARM(R) platform with a rich IP portfolio. PGC's SoC team can support designers to focus on a customer's own design on the CAP MP block, and provide a better time to market service for customers. This JPEG reference design is just to show one of the many applications targeted by the CAP series and the mature design service provided by PGC. PGC can also provide technical training to customers who have CAP Development Kits. PGC is now ready to launch a design service for customers in Greater China with Atmel's CAP series.

Availability

The PGC JPEG Encoder and Decoder IP Blocks used to create this reference design are available now, from http://www.pgc.com.tw/ip-digital.htm

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.

About PGC

Since its foundation in 1991, PGC (Progate Group Corporation) has focused on ASIC design services. From design initiation, verification, first silicon to production, PGC does its best to perform a time-to-value partner services to its customers. PGC endeavors to provide customers the best quality of design, logistics and quality control service to achieve the challenges of time to market, competitive price, and the most competitive position in the market.

(C) 2009 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), Atmel logo and combinations thereof, STK(R) 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. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Atmel Product Information:

Atmel's AT91CAP9A-STK product information may be retrieved at http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=4234

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

PGC Product Information:

PGC's products and services are described at http://www.pgc.com.tw/business.html

Atmel Press Contacts: Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, Atmel Rousset Tel: +33-(0)4-42-53-61-50, Email: peter.bishop@atmel.com Helen Perlegos, Public Relations Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: helen.perlegos@atmel.com PGC Press Contacts: EJ Chiang, Director of Sales Marketing Dept., PGC Tel: +886-2-2658-2233 #242, Email: ej_chiang@pgc.com.tw Lulu Wu, Public Relations, PGC Tel: +886-2-2658-2233 #232, Email: lulu@pgc.com.tw

Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, Atmel Rousset, +33(0)4-42-53-61-50, peter.bishop@atmel.com, or Helen Perlegos, Public Relations, +1-408-487-2963, helen.perlegos@atmel.com; EJ Chiang, Director of Sales Marketing Dept., +886-2-2658-2233, #242, ej_chiang@pgc.com.tw, or Lulu Wu, Public Relations, +886-2-2658-2233, #232, lulu@pgc.com.tw, both of PGC