Altera announced the Cyclone IV FPGA family. The family offers two variants. Cyclone IV GX devices have up to 150K logic elements (LEs), up to 6.5-Mbits of RAM, up to 360 multipliers, and up to eight integrated 3.125-Gbps transceivers supporting mainstream protocols including Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), SDI, CPRI, V-by-One and Cyclone IV GX has hard IP for PCI Express (PCIe). With low power consumption and packages as small as 11x11 mm, these devices address cost-sensitive, small form-factor applications in the wireless, wireline, broadcast, industrial and consumer markets.

Cyclone IV E devices deliver a combination of low cost and high functionality, and lower power by up to 25 percent compared to previous generation Cyclone products for power-sensitive applications such as handheld software-defined radio. By integrating transceivers, Cyclone IV GX FPGAs eliminate external component costs and reduce power consumption up to 30 percent compared to previous generation Cyclone products combined with external transceiver PHYs. This power savings also reduces costs by eliminating the need for heat-dissipation hardware.

Cyclone IV GX devices require only two power supplies which significantly simplifies PCB design and reduces board space and cost. With a focus on low cost, Cyclone IV GX smallest device is the industry's smallest FPGA with transceivers. Production shipments of the EP4CGX15 and EP4CE115, the first Cyclone IV GX and Cyclone IV E devices respectively, will begin in the first quarter of 2010.

Budgetary pricing for the smallest devices, the EP4CE6 and the EP4CGX15, will start as low as $3 and $6 respectively for 250K unit quantities in 2010. The three smallest Cyclone IV GX devices will be supported in the Quartus® II design software version 9.1 with the remaining Cyclone IV devices supported in the Quartus II design software version 9.1 service pack 1.