XILINX EXPANDS INDUSTRY LEADING
HIGH-SPEED SERIAL I/O SOLUTIONS TO BRING NEXT-GENERATION CONNECTIVITY
TO THE MASSES
Company delivers on promised "High-Speed Serial
Initiative" with new design solutions and training to help designers
cut system costs
SAN JOSE, Calif., November 4, 2002 -Xilinx Inc (Nasdaq:XLNX)
today announced key additions to its high-speed serial I/O design
solutions built on leading Virtex-II Pro architecture. In addition
to the extensive IP core solutions for all major parallel and
serial connectivity standards such as PCI Express, 1 and 10 Gigabit
Ethernet (XAUI), and SONET, Xilinx is now offering an in-depth
serial connectivity training course, six development and characterization
boards, complete 3.125 serial transceiver characterization data,
and a dedicated serial design web portal. For detailed information
visit www.xilinx.com/connectivity.
The expanded solution offering supports the company's
'High-Speed Serial Initiative' to bring designers up to speed
on serial design techniques required for the next generation system
designs. Serial connectivity offers significant system cost savings
through fewer pins, cheaper printed circuit boards, smaller connectors,
lower EMI, increased signal integrity, and better noise immunity.
For additional information visit www.xilinx.com/connectivity.
"Designing and integrating multi-gigabit serial
transceivers on an FPGA is an art more than a science. By licensing
already proven technology from MindSpeed, and acquiring industry
unique expertise through the RocketChips acquisition, we were
the first semiconductor company to market with a platform FPGA
solution for serial connectivity," said Ray Johnson, general manager
of the Communications Technology Division at Xilinx. "Since we
began shipping Virtex-II Pro devices earlier this year, our team
has invested significant time in characterizing the silicon and
building complete design solutions to make design starts easy.
We're now adding the necessary training and support needed to
get started in using this bleeding-edge technology."
Intensive Training Course on RocketIO Multi-Gigabit
Transceivers
Xilinx Virtex-II Pro is the only Platform FPGA with 3.125 gigabit
serial transceivers, immersed PowerPC processors and the highest
density FPGA fabric in the industry. The latest Virtex-II Pro™
FPGA family provides up to 24 3.125 Gbps serial transceivers in
the largest 2VP125 device to provide up to 75 Gbps total bandwidth.
To facilitate designers on taking full advantage of these advanced
technologies, Xilinx is offering a two-day detailed training course
on how to utilize the Virtex-II Pro RocketIO transceiver. The
course is designed to enable designers to quickly employ RocketIO
serial transceivers in their next system design by learning how
to use specific RocketIO transceiver features such as CRC, 8b/10b
encoding, channel bonding, clock correction, and comma detection.
Other topics include debugging techniques, use of the Architecture
Wizard, synthesis and implementation considerations, and standards
compliance. This course also offers a hands-on lab for designers
to program the various RocketIO features and utilize RocketIO
transceiver in a real design such as PCI Express or 10 Gigabit
Ethernet.
New RocketIO hardware Platforms for Demonstration,
Characterization, and Evaluation
Xilinx also offers designers a comprehensive list of hardware
platforms, software tools and design examples that can be used
to demonstrate, evaluate and characterize designs with the Virtex-II
Pro 3.125Gbps RocketIO serial transceivers at a wide range of
performance levels. The suite of boards includes the Xilinx ML32x
hardware platforms that allow designers to characterize, investigate
and experiment with the RocketIO features. The ML32x boards are
excellent vehicles for demonstration of eye diagrams at up to
3.125 Gbps speeds, signal integrity, and interoperability studies.
The suite also includes AFX boards used for demonstrating serial
designs and PowerPC processor-based development and prototyping.
Virtex-II Pro development boards with serial connectivity support
are also available from Insight Memec. The suite of hardware platforms
enables system engineers to develop Virtex-II Pro based programmable
systems to lower overall system cost for serial applications such
as SONET, 1 & 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and Fibre Channel.
Ignis Optics, a Xilinx Reference Design Alliance
Program Partner, and leading supplier of optical transceiver solutions
based in San Jose, Calif., utilized the ML32x board to successfully
demonstrate full interoperability between its proprietary fiber
optic transceivers and the Virtex-II RocketIO transceivers. Such
an evaluation and demonstration platform is a key advantage when
customers need a vehicle to test and validate their high-speed
serial interface designs.
"We are extremely pleased to have an industry leading
product such as the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGA to demonstrate the
capability of our low cost small form factor serial I/O technology
enabled by our I/O-PKG optical engine," said Michael Lebby, CEO
at Ignis Optics. "Having the Virtex-II Pro directly drive our
optics without an external PHY will greatly reduce our customers'
overall system costs."
Industry's most comprehensive 3.125 Gigabit serial
transceiver characterization data
For completing successful gigabit serial I/O designs, detailed
I/O characterization data is required in addition to PC Board
design rules, design software, signal integrity tools and silicon.
Xilinx has characterized the RocketIO transceivers over a large
range speeds and media such as industry standard FR4 PC Board
material and HSSDC2 Cables. All data such as jitter, eye width,
etc was taken at the Xilinx Characterization Labs, in San Jose
using An Agilent Technologies 86100A Digital Communications Analyzer
(DCA) and compared to measurements taken at the MindSpeed, San
Jose Lab, using similar hardware. Results from both sites correlated
and have been verified by both parties. To download the full RocketIO
Characterization report, please visit the Xilinx SPICE Suite Dedicated
Serial Design Resource Web Portal
Comprehensive web resource for designers
Xilinx understands the challenge of serial design and has created
a serial design resource web portal dedicated to accelerating
the development of high-speed serial design in order to minimize
design risk and reduce overall system cost. The serial solution
web portal can be reached through the Connectivity Central at www.xilinx.com/conenctivity and provides a one stop shop for
system engineers to access in-depth simulation models, characterization
reports, signal integrity tools, PCB layout recommendations, serial
intellectual property (IP), and reference designs developed both
in house or through collaboration with a wide range of industry
leaders.
Pricing and Availability
The price of the 2-day RocketIO class is $1,000, or 10 Training
Credits, and it is currently scheduled for San Jose on November
11-12, Boston on November 18-19, Ontario Canada on December 3-4,
and Raleigh on December 16-17. Classes outside North America are
in progress and will be announced at a later date. The ML32x boards
are available in a loaner program. A limited quantity of the ML32x
boards will be also available for sale. The AFX boards are available
now and range in price from $1,495 to $1,695. The AFX boards can
be purchased either through qualified Xilinx distribution channels
or Xilinx online store. Virtex-II Pro boards with serial connectivity
support are also available from Insight Memec at http://www.insight-electronics.com.
About High-Speed Serial Initiative
The Xilinx High-Speed Serial Initiative, announced October 21,
2002 is designed to accelerate the industry move from parallel
to serial I/O technology by delivering next generation connectivity
solutions that meet bandwidth requirements from 3.125 Gbps today
to 10 Gbps and beyond. For complete information about the High-Speed
Serial Initiative, visit www.xilinx.com/connectivity.
