IAR Systems partners with Atmel to deliver tools support for AVR XMEGA

IAR Embedded Workbench for AVR was originally developed by IAR Systems working closely in parallel with Atmel’s development of the AVR architecture, and this ensured maximum utilisation of the core’s capabilities and maximum code generation performance. This co-design initiative enabled IAR Embedded Workbench to establish a reputation as the professional development tool of choice for AVR developers – meeting their exacting standards for the performance and ease-of-use of their tools, as well as providing excellent third party support. The strong partnership between the two companies has continued, and ensures that IAR Systems can provide ongoing support for the latest devices and technology from Atmel.

“The close relationship between our two companies has resulted in what we believe is a world-beating combination of parts and tools,” said Ingar Fredriksen, Product Marketing Director at Atmel. “IAR Systems has been a very important partner for Atmel for many years, and it was natural that we should turn to them again when we began to design the XMEGA. Our customers will particularly appreciate the professional tool chain support offered by IAR Embedded Workbench.”

“We have seen a strong demand for AVR tools over the past 10 years,” said Mats Ullström, Product Director at IAR Systems. “The advanced features of the new AVR XMEGA are expected to bring even greater success for the AVR architecture.”

As embedded applications become increasingly more complex, the larger and more efficient XMEGA offers an ideal upgrade path for the many existing AVR users, as well as an attractive alternative for new users. XMEGA has been specifically designed to improve system performance while keeping power consumption extremely low. A DMA controller removes data transfer bottlenecks and an innovative Event System provides predictable behaviour with no event latency. The 2nd generation picoPower™ technology allows the devices to operate from just 1.6V, with up to 32 MIPS at 32MHz and Flash memory size range from 16KB to 384KB. The XMEGA devices are general purpose microcontrollers that are well suited for a variety of battery-powered applications, including audio systems, ZigBee®, power tools, medical, board controllers, networking, metering, optical transceivers, motor control, and white goods.