Microsemi Sponsors Design Training for Embedding RISC-V in its SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs During Hands-On Tutorial Session

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., July 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced it is sponsoring a series of tutorials at the RISC-V Workshop on embedding RISC-V on the Arrow Electronics-built SF2+ Development Kit, featuring Microsemi's SmartFusion^™2 system-on-a-chip (SoC) field-programmable gate array (FPGA), Microsemi's Timberwolf^™ audio processor and Microsemi's LX series power devices. The "Hands-On RISC-V Tutorial Session" will take place July 13 from 1-6 p.m. EDT, following the RISC-V Workshop at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five") is a new instruction set architecture (ISA) that was originally designed to support computer architecture research and education, and is now set to become a standard open architecture under the governance of the RISC-V Foundation. The combination of Microsemi's SmartFusion2 and Libero SoC create an ideal ecosystem to target a RISC-V core for many embedded applications in the industrial segment. The low power and security of SmartFusion2 is a sound architecture for customers seeking to protect their intellectual property (IP) and ensure long-term support for their design. The Libero SoC Design Suite allows designers to implement their design and efficiently pack the FPGA logic elements (LEs), yielding a cost-effective solution.

"We are pleased to be a part of RISC-V's event, as it presents an ideal opportunity for attendees to see firsthand how embedding RISC-V into our award-winning SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs can optimize design performance and accelerate development time," said Ted Marena, director of SoC FPGA marketing at Microsemi. "Arrow's SF2+ development board is a full-feature hardware development kit that enables software and hardware engineers to reduce not only the area of their board, but also the cost and complexity of working with multiple sensors and interfaces."

RISC-V is designed to be scalable for a wide variety of applications, easy to implement with regard to size and power, and offered under a permissive Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) open source license.  The Arrow Microsemi SmartFusion2+ Evaluation board contains memory for RISC-V code execution and storage. In addition, there is a system-on-module that allows customers to use a choice of SmartFusion2 densities, anywhere from 10k LEs to 90k LEs. These features make the Microsemi platform ideal for the development of RISC-V based designs.

Microsemi's hands-on RISC-V training, which has a fee of $25 and is comprised of four 60-minute tutorials with Q-and-A sessions, has been specially developed to run on Arrow's Microsemi SmartFusion2 evaluation board. All registered attendees will receive a complimentary evaluation board, supplied jointly by Arrow and Microsemi, to continue their design efforts following the event.

The four tutorials will showcase Microsemi's leadership role in the emerging RISC-V ecosystem with participation from SiFive, Technolution and VectorBlox. Topics include:

• 1 p.m.: "Arrow Microsemi SmartFusion2+ Evaluation Board Bring-Up"
• 2:10 p.m.: "VectorBlox ORCA RISC-V Processor with Vector Extensions"
• 3:40 p.m.: "How RISC-V Can Make Your Products Safer and More Secure"
• 4:50 p.m.: "RISC-V in Chisel on FPGA"

The "Arrow Microsemi SmartFusion2+ Evaluation Board Bring-Up" session is a simple tutorial to help users bring up the evaluation board and associated tools using the supplied VirtualBox VM. This capability will be required when participating in tutorials 2, 3 and 4. Those tutorials will use Microsemi's Libero SoC Design Suite, which provides high productivity with its comprehensive, easy to learn, easy to adopt development tools for designing with Microsemi's power-efficient flash FPGAs, SoC FPGAs and radiation-tolerant (RT) FPGAs. The suite integrates industry standard Synopsys SynplifyPro synthesis and Mentor Graphics ModelSim simulation with best-in-class constraints management, debug capabilities and secure production programming support.

For more information on the series of tutorials, visit https://riscv.org/2016/06/hands-on-risc-v-tutorial/. To register, visit https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1854602.

About Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs

Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs deliver more resources in low density devices, with the lowest power, proven security and exceptional reliability. These devices are ideal for general purpose functions such as Gigabit Ethernet or dual PCI Express control planes, bridging functions, input/output (I/O) expansion and conversion, video/image processing, system management and secure connectivity. Microsemi SoC FPGAs are used by customers in communications, industrial, medical, defense and aviation markets. PCIe Gen 2 connectivity starts at just 10K LEs. SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs offer 5K-150K LEs with 166MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor with up to 512KB of embedded flash, Triple Speed Ethernet, USB 2.0 OTG, CAN controllers and general purpose peripherals, with the highest max I/O per LE density. Microsemi also offers a broad range of military, automotive and space grade FPGAs and SoC FPGAs. For more information visit: http://www.microsemi.com/products/fpga-soc/soc-fpga/smartfusion2.

About Microsemi

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world's standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California and has approximately 4,800 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.

Microsemi and the Microsemi logo are registered trademarks or service marks of Microsemi Corporation and/or its affiliates. Third-party trademarks and service marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Any statements set forth in this news release that are not entirely historical and factual in nature, including statements related to it sponsoring a series of tutorials at the RISC-V Workshop on embedding RISC-V on the Arrow-built SF2+ Development Kit, featuring Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA, Microsemi's Timberwolf audio processor and Microsemi's LX series power devices, and its potential effects on future business, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, such factors as rapidly changing technology and product obsolescence, potential cost increases, variations in customer order preferences, weakness or competitive pricing environment of the marketplace, uncertain demand for and acceptance of the company's products, adverse circumstances in any of our end markets, results of in-process or planned development or marketing and promotional campaigns, difficulties foreseeing future demand, potential non-realization of expected orders or non-realization of backlog, product returns, product liability, and other potential unexpected business and economic conditions or adverse changes in current or expected industry conditions, difficulties and costs of protecting patents and other proprietary rights, inventory obsolescence and difficulties regarding customer qualification of products. In addition to these factors and any other factors mentioned elsewhere in this news release, the reader should refer as well to the factors, uncertainties or risks identified in the company's most recent Form 10-K and all subsequent Form 10-Q reports filed by Microsemi with the SEC. Additional risk factors may be identified from time to time in Microsemi's future filings. The forward-looking statements included in this release speak only as of the date hereof, and Microsemi does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

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