Altera releases Quartus II FPGA design software Version 7.2

This release includes productivity and performance-focused enhancements that enable designers to achieve faster compile times and meet performance requirements. Altera claim that a Quartus II software user working with a multiprocessor computer will experience, on average, a 20 percent reduction in compile times over single-processor computers.

Enhancements to Quartus II Version 7.2
New Live I/O Checking – The addition of real-time pin-out validation allows faster verification of pin placement and assignments.

Improved Avalon Streaming Support in SOPC Builder – New automatic insertion of adapters makes finishing Avalon Streaming designs quicker and easier. In addition, the revamped component editor includes a faster GUI for adding custom components and support for Avalon Streaming.

Expanded OS Support With Windows Vista – Altera claims to be the only FPGA vendor to support both Windows Vista 32- and 64-bit editions with its Quartus II software.

New State Machine Editor – Quartus II Version 7.2 includes a new graphical state machine design entry tool.

Easier Chip Debug With Enhanced SignalTap II – Improved trigger condition settings capture data based on a sequential set of events to allow for faster chip debug. In addition, Signal Tap II offers enhanced segmented acquisition for better use of the memory buffer, allowing for easier hardware verification.

Faster Timing Closure With Enhanced TimeQuest – New "clock-as-data" feature enables designers to analyze timing when clock signals are used as data, a feature not available in many timing analysis tools. In addition, TimeQuest's new waveform viewer enables designers to visualize timing relationships for faster timing closure.

Simplified Software Download – Altera offers a new unified download and installation for Quartus II Subscription Edition on the Linux operating system to support faster software upgrades.

Pricing and availability
Both the Subscription Edition and free Web Edition of Quartus II software version 7.2 are now available for download at www.altera.com/download. The Subscription Edition is also available in DVD format by request at www.altera.com/dvdrequest.

Altera's software subscription program consolidates software products and maintenance charges into one annual subscription payment. Subscribers receive Quartus II software, the ModelSim-Altera edition, and a full license to the IP Base Suite, which includes ten of Altera's most popular IP (DSP and memory) cores. The annual software subscription is $2,000 for a node-locked PC license.