Atmel and NVIDIA Collaborate to Enable Large Format Touchscreens for Tablet PCs

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile World Congress --  Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today announced it is collaborating with NVIDIA  to bring high-performance, multi-touch, large-format touchscreen solutions to market. This reference design includes two award-winning devices, including the NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2  mobile super chip and Atmel's maXTouch® mXT1386 solution, to power touchscreens up to 15 inches for smartphones, tablet PCs, mobile Internet devices and other applications.

Available now, the joint reference design includes Tegra 2, Atmel's maXTouch solution and runs on the Android operating system. With Tegra 2, NVIDIA is unleashing the next wave of super phones and tablets that deliver unprecedented multimedia experiences. Tegra 2 brings extreme multi-tasking with the first mobile dual-core CPU, the best web experience with up to two times faster browsing, hardware accelerated Flash, and console-quality gaming with a GeForce™ GPU. The Atmel maXTouch touchscreen chipset enables an industry-best touch user experience by enabling up to 16-simultaneous touches, industry's fastest response times, better power consumption and rejection of unintended touches. These features offer a consumer the ability to have a more intuitive touchscreen experience for applications ranging from gaming to making calls, drawing, gesturing and more.

"With device entrants from across the PC, mobile, and entertainment space, 2011 is shaping up as the year of the tablet," said Rhoda Alexander, analyst at IHS iSuppli. "Processing speed and touch performance are key elements of successful design in this highly competitive market. Joint reference designs, such as that provided by the collaboration between Atmel and NVIDIA, can provide a significant design benefit to vendors as they strive to provide faster tablets with improved touch performance and longer battery life."

Glenn Schuster, director of partner programs at NVIDIA said, "We're excited that Atmel has recognized the power of Tegra and the new wave of mobile devices it's unleashing. Atmel provides leading touchscreen technology, and teaming their maXTouch solution with Tegra 2 helps our partners create tablets with a great touch experience."

"Atmel and NVIDIA have made many performance and accuracy improvements to make this solution ideal for tablet PC applications," said Jon Kiachian, sr. director of touch marketing, Atmel Corporation. "The Atmel maXTouch solution offers improved resolution, better linearity, faster response, and complete software and design support that will enable users of this reference design to bring their products faster-to-market."

About Atmel maXTouch Technologies

With true unlimited touch functionality and stylus support, the maXTouch technology will enable exciting new applications, such as tablets, Netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs). The microcontroller technology, combined with proprietary algorithms, offers a better touch experience for users of tablet and other applications. The larger screen solution is an enhancement of existing maXTouch products that provide best-in-class configurability to exceed today's user interface requirements for applications such as tablets. For more information, visit http://www.atmel.com/products/touchscreens/. To see Atmel's latest maXTouch videos, visit the Atmel YouTube Channel at http://www.atmel.com/youtube or follow Atmel on Twitter at www.atmel.com/twitter.

About Atmel

Atmel Corporation is a global leader in the design and manufacture of capacitive touch sensing solutions, microcontrollers, and complementary products such as capacitive touch sensing ICs, ASICs, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete microcontroller based system solutions focused on consumer, industrial, automotive, security, communications computing markets. By providing tools and support Atmel enables those customers to lead the markets they serve with electronic products that are smaller, smarter, more cost-effective and versatile than ever before.

©2011 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel®, Atmel logo and combinations thereof, and others, are registered trademarks and maXTouch™ and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

SOURCE Atmel Corporation