Xilinx Press Release #0270

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

"With the ever-increasing need for higher performance and flexibility, the MicroBlaze solution implemented in the Virtex-II Pro series is the first soft processor to meet the critical performance needs of high-speed and large bandwidth applications,” said Mark Aaldering, senior director of the IP Solutions Division at Xilinx. "With PicoBlaze and MicroBlaze, designers now can choose from a range of “right sized” solutions from 8 to 32-bits. As a result, adoption of our soft processor solutions is unprecedented and has exceeded our expectations.” 

Xilinx Processor Solutions
The PicoBlaze soft processor runs at 116 MHz and occupies a small footprint of 154 logic cells. The core is fully embedded, including the program memory, and can be connected to functions and peripherals tuned to a specific design. Distributed processing over multiple PicoBlaze cores within a single device is suitable for applications such as neural networks and task processing. 

The MicroBlaze soft processor solution complements the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro hard processor solution with immersed high performance IBM PowerPC processors. Using the Virtex-II Pro patent-pending IP Immersion technology, Xilinx has integrated RISC processing into the Virtex-II fabric which contains advanced Active Interconnect, BlockRAM, and clock management features. By leveraging these and additional Virtex-II Pro device features such as extra 18x18 hard embedded multipliers and BlockRAM, the MicroBlaze core has exceeded the 100 D-MIPS performance level. Embedded software tool support for the MicroBlaze core is provided via GNU tools, which along with over 40 processor IP cores and the industry leading ISE 4.2I FPGA logic design tools, provide designers with a complete software tool chain for rapidly building programmable systems with leading edge performance.

License Price and Availability 
PicoBlaze is available now and downloadable via the web at www.xilinx.com/ipcenter/processor_central/picoblaze. The MicroBlaze Development Kit version 2.2 is available today at www.xilinx.com/ipcenter/processor_central. 

About Xilinx 
Xilinx is the leading supplier of complete programmable logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined system functions delivered as intellectual property cores, and unparalleled field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and fulfills more than half of the world demand for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, aerospace, defense, low- power portable and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at  www.xilinx.com.