SANTA CLARA, Calif., September 10, 2012 – The #1 Microcontroller supplier in the world and the leading embedded software solution provider have partnered to bundle the power of microcontrollers with a real-time operating system. Renesas Electronics America Inc. and Micrium today announced that embedded developers designing with Renesas’ flagship RX or RL78 MCUs can get a free, single production license for Micrium’s real-time deterministic multi-tasking kernel (RTOS) and middleware (TCP/IP, USB, File System and others) along with one year of maintenance and support from Micrium.

“While some in the industry have focused mainly on the CPU core instruction set, which is hidden to most developers by C/C++ compilers, we believe in providing solutions that also addresses complex peripherals, such as Ethernet and USB, by offering a software “framework” which allows for hardware interoperability and reuse of customer application code,” said Peter Carbone, vice president of marketing at Renesas Electronics America. “Using the proven building blocks from Micrium with Renesas MCUs, customers will be able to focus on their domain expertise while controlling development costs and getting to market more quickly and easily.”

Jean Labrosse, Micrium founder, CEO and president, said, “If you need a high-performance MCU, then you should highly consider the 1.65 DMIPS/MHz RX architecture with its Zero wait-state 100 MHz Flash, built-in FPU and DSP capabilities. When it comes to low-power designs, the RL78 can satisfy your most demanding needs. Either way, you will be able to future proof your designs by surrounding these MCUs with Micrium’s highly portable software components which are provided in extremely clean, efficient and consistent ANSI-C source code.”

Promotion details

This RTOS/Middleware promotion begins September 10, 2012 and ends March 31, 2013. The promotion is only valid in the Americas (North America, South America and Central America). The customer project must use a Renesas RX or RL78 MCU product and it must be used in a commercial application. Qualified customers can request any number of single-product licenses by registering each project individually with Renesas. Customers will receive the following as part of the free license package from Micrium:

• A single-product license for Micrium’s market-leading RTOS µCOS-II or µC/OS-III
• A single-product license for any or all of Micrium’s connectivity stacks and storage software including USB, CAN, TCP/IP, file system, and Modbus.
• 1-year support and maintenance
• 1 free seat of the award winning µC/Probe data visualization tool.

Customers who are just beginning their evaluations can also visit the Renesas website and register to qualify for a free evaluation RL78 PRB and RX62N RDK boards. The RX62N RDK comes pre-loaded with Micrium sample projects making it easy to evaluate the Micrium RTOS and connectivity stacks. The customer can also go to the Micrium website and download evaluation versions of the various software. There are also specific RX62N Micrium books available in PDF format for free downloading.

For more information and to complete an online registration form, visit www.am.renesas.com/micrium.

About the ?C/OS-II and ?C/OS-III

Micrium’s ?C/OS-II and ?C/OS-III are portable, ROMable, scalable, preemptive, real-time deterministic multitasking kernels for microprocessors, microcontrollers and DSPs. Offering unprecedented ease-of-use, ?C/OS-II and µC/OS-III are delivered with complete 100% ANSI C source code and in-depth documentation. ?C/OS-II and µC/OS-III run on the largest number of processor architectures, with ports available for download from the Micrium Web site.  These highly popular real-time kernels are complemented by Micrium’s connectivity solutions.

About the Renesas RX MCUs

Since the introduction of the RX MCU family in 2009, Renesas Electronics has been steadily introducing new devices, features, tools and partnerships to expand the eco-system of the MCUs. Right now the RX platform offers products with 64KB to 2MB on board Flash memory with rich set of peripherals included but not limited to Ethernet, USB, CAN and Graphic capability. Renesas Electronics supports its RX600 MCUs with a comprehensive hardware and software tool set and with a wealth of support from its third-party partners. Renesas Electronics offers its popular High-Performance Embedded Workshop (HEW) integrated development environment (IDE), which includes the RX-optimizing C/C++ compiler. In addition RX is also supported by the Eclipse IDE and GCC compiler. 

About the Renesas RL MCUs

RL78 is Renesas Electronics’ next-generation microcontroller based upon a 16-bit low power architecture with analog-rich functionality. RL78 is designed specifically for ultra-low power applications enabling customers to build compact and energy-efficient systems at lower cost.

The platform lineup offers products from 2KB to 512KB on board flash memory with many application specific peripherals for industrial and automotive applications.

About Micrium 

Micrium is the world’s most respected and trusted RTOS and tools provider serving embedded systems developers. The products in Micrium’s portfolio are accompanied by intuitive documentation and are backed by second-to-none technical support. For more information, visit www.micrium.com.

About Renesas Electronics America Inc.

Renesas Electronics America Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world’s number one supplier of microcontrollers and a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions, and a broad range of analog and power devices. Renesas Electronics America offers local manufacturing in Roseville, California, and the global manufacturing capabilities of its parent company. In the Americas, Renesas Electronics America markets and sells industrial-type active-matrix LCD modules from NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., a global leader in innovative display technologies. More information about the products offered by Renesas Electronics America can be found at http://am.renesas.com/.

Renesas Electronics America will highlight technologies that are enabling a Smart Society at the Renesas Electronics DevCon 2012 being held in Orange County, Calif., October 22-25. For the latest Renesas DevCon details and activities, visit www.Renesas.com, follow @RenesasAmerica on Twitter or join the DevCon community on Facebook.