Life of 100 Pin EPM7256AE

[Ram71]

Hi, One of our existing product uses 100 Pin EPM7256AE CPLD from Altera. Now  we are doing some modifications on the hardware, since some other component obsolete.

We are thinking about this CPLDS device life. Can anyone say this CPLD have at least 5 years life from now?

Also any other low cost CPLD can be replaced without changing the logic design file?

Anyone can throw some information about this?

Thanks

[ak6dn]

First of all, I don't work for Intel, so nothing I say is official.

That being said, that series of parts has been around at least 17 years now. It is basically living on borrowed time right now. There are still enough customers using it for Intel to maintain production and supply distributors (you can still buy them from Mouser, DigiKey, etc).

If I were doing a redesign of an existing product now that used this part I would design it out and move to a newer generation. I would be very surprised if this series is still in active production 5 yrs from now.

There is no drop in replacement, however. You will have to go back to the original sources and update them (possibly significantly) to move to a newer generation series (depends a LOT on how the original part was designed).

If you don't have the original source and want to stick with this part, then it is basically a crapshoot when Intel sends out the EOL/LTB notice. If your product is low volume and the part goes EOL next year, you may be forced to buy 3 or 4 years of inventory by the LTB (last time buy) date. Could be $$$ based on your production volume.

So no easy answer or decision for you.

[Ram71]

Thank you so much for the response. It certainly helps!

[NurAiman_M_Intel]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Intel community.

Please be noted that the life cycle of a device is depending on its order volume. Hence, we do not have the estimated EOL.

You can subscribe to our customer notification mailing list at below link so that you can be notified when an Intel device is going to be discontinued.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/programmable/support/support-resources/knowledge-base/solutions/rd04252012_977.html

Thanks.

Regards,

Aiman