GENEVA, Feb. 12, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Choosing an STM32 microcontroller (MCU) by STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, is the easiest way for innovators to bring new products to life now that designers can choose from the industry's widest selection of free-of-charge Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) for STM32 MCUs.

STM32 users can now choose from three IDEs from leading vendors, which are free of charge and deployed in close cooperation with ST. Users can choose between Eclipse-based IDEs such as CooCox CoIDE or Ac6 System Workbench for STM32, and the MDK-ARM environment. There are no code-size limitations, and all necessary STM32 configuration files and firmware are supported, as well as intuitive hardware such as STM32 Nucleo boards or Discovery Kits used for design validation and development.

"Our STM32 MCU family benefits from the broadest choice of free IDEs in the ARM^® Cortex^® -M space, giving extra freedom to find a comfortable design environment that requires minimal up-front investment," said Michel Buffa, General Manager, Microcontroller Division, STMicroelectronics. "This unique accessibility provides the conditions for creative minds together with developer communities to turn innovative concepts into successful new products."

The Ac6 System Workbench for STM32 and CooCox IDE support all STM32 devices based on ARM Cortex-M0, M0+, M3, and M4 cores. The free Keil MDK-ARM environment for STM32 aids the transition from legacy 8-bit architectures to Cortex 32-bit development by supporting the STM32F0 and STM32L0 series featuring Cortex-M0 and M0+ without any restrictions.

All three IDEs are able to run on Windows^® desktop platforms. Ac6 System Workbench for STM32 will also be available for Linux and Mac OSX by Q2 2015. Global access to STM32 is further boosted through the Chinese language support in CooCox CoIDE, and Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in MDK-ARM. The IDE vendors are providing technical support and regular software updates for users.

The tools can be downloaded free of charge at any time from the vendors' websites at http://www.coocox.org for CooCox CoIDE, http://www.openstm32.org for Ac6 System Workbench for STM32, and http://www.keil.com/mdk-st for MDK-ARM. 

About STMicroelectronics

ST is a global leader in the semiconductor market serving customers across the spectrum of sense and power and automotive products and embedded processing solutions. From energy management and savings to trust and data security, from healthcare and wellness to smart consumer devices, in the home, car and office, at work and at play, ST is found everywhere microelectronics make a positive and innovative contribution to people's life. By getting more from technology to get more from life, ST stands for life.augmented.

In 2014, the Company's net revenues were $7.40 billion. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com. 

For Press Information Contact:

STMicroelectronics
Michael Markowitz
Director Technical Media Relations
+1 781 591 0354
michael.markowitz@st.com

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