New Promotion Campaign Strengthens the Strategic Alliance Between IAR Systems America and Renesas Electronics America

September 16, 2013

Santa Clara, Calif., September 16, 2013 — Renesas Electronics America, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced that, in partnership with IAR Systems Software, Inc., embedded developers designing with Renesas’ flagship RX or RL78 microcontrollers (MCUs) can get one free license for IAR Embedded Workbench, the popular C/C++ compiler and debugger tool suite. This partnership between Renesas, the world’s leading MCU supplier, and IAR Systems Software, Inc., the world’s leading independent provider of software for programming of processors in embedded systems, bundles the performance of the RX and RL78 MCUs with a powerful development tools suite to reduce customer time to market.

"By standardizing on IAR Systems' Embedded Workbench, customers are able to vastly improve efficiency and time to market for new products. In one environment, they can easily migrate from competing architectures to our 16-bit RL78 and 32-bit RX MCUs," said Ritesh Tyagi, senior director of microcontroller product marketing at Renesas Electronics America. "Today, IAR Systems is the biggest independent tool vendor for Renesas Electronics MCUs. Customers can trust the compatibility of the IAR and Renesas solutions – a collaboration that has been going strong since the mid-1980s."

"If you need a high-performance MCU, the 1.65 DMIPS/MHz RX architecture with its zero wait-state 100 MHz Flash, built-in FPU and DSP capabilities is a smart choice,” said Robert DeOliveira, Director of Strategic Sales at IAR Systems. “When it comes to low-power designs, the RL78 can satisfy your most demanding needs. Either way, you will have an excellent design experience by developing your application with IAR Embedded Workbench."

Promotion details

The Renesas/IAR promotion begins September 16, 2013 and ends March 31, 2014. 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. Customers interested in the promotion need to register their project with Renesas. Qualifying customers will receive the following:

  • A single-user license for either the IAR Embedded Workbench for RX (EWRX) or the IAR Embedded Workbench for RL78 (EWRL78)
  • 1-year support and maintenance

Customers who are just beginning their evaluations can visit the Renesas website and register to qualify for a free RL78 RDK or RX62N RDK evaluation board. Customers can also go to the IAR website and download evaluation versions of both EWRX and EWRL78. Both software packages include example projects for the respective Renesas Demonstration Kit (RDK). For more information and to complete an online registration form, visit www.am.renesas.com/iar.

About the IAR Embedded Workbench

IAR Embedded Workbench is a high-performance C/C++ compiler and debugger tool suite for applications based on 8-, 16-, and 32-bit microcontrollers. It is advanced and powerful, yet easy to use thanks to its smart functionality and user-friendly interface. IAR Embedded Workbench incorporates a compiler, an assembler, a linker and a debugger into one integrated development environment (IDE). This gives you an uninterrupted workflow and a single toolbox in which all components integrate seamlessly.

IAR Embedded Workbench features comprehensive and capable tools that enable customers to develop new competitive products. Outstanding speed optimizations enable IAR Embedded Workbench to generate faster code than ever before. With the shortest possible execution times it is the ultimate choice for developing low-power applications.

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 16KB 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 RX100, RX200, and RX600 MCUs with a comprehensive hardware and software tool set and with a wealth of support from its third-party partners.

About the Renesas RL MCUs

RL78 is Renesas Electronics' next-generation MCU 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 IAR Systems

IAR Systems is the world’s leading independent provider of software for programming of processors in embedded systems. The software is used by around 20,000 large and small corporations to develop products based on 8 -, 16 - and 32-bit processors, mainly in the areas of industrial automation, medical devices, consumer electronics and the automotive industry. For more information, visit www.iar.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. 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 www.renesas.com.


The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.

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