FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

XILINX AND AMIRIX SYSTEMS ANNOUNCE HARDWARE AND IP DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM FOR IBM POWERPC IN VIRTEX-II PRO EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

BOSTON, Mass., September 16, 2003 - At the Embedded Systems Conference today (ESC), Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) and new AllianceCORE™ program member Amirix Systems, Inc. of Halifax, Nova Scotia, announced the immediate availability of the Amirix Email Trigger core that leverages the IBM PowerPC™ processor in Xilinx Virtex-II Pro™ FPGAs. The solution will generate and send messages through the Internet for remote monitoring, event logging or system debugging purposes. Also announced today, the availability of the Amirix Virtex-II Pro PCI™ Platform FPGA Development Board for development and evaluation of PowerPC based embedded designs using Virtex-II Pro FPGAs. Target applications for these new products include networking, communications, signal processing and industrial control.

"The PowerPC is an ideal solution for embedded applications since it is the leading processor architecture for networking and communications systems. The fact that it is embedded in a high-performance FPGA such as Virtex-II Pro and can deliver over 400 MHz at 600 D-MIPS makes it attractive for use in high performance applications," said Bruce Oakley, product manager and principal designer at Amirix Systems. "Additionally, the Embedded Development Kit (EDK) from Xilinx is great for developing PowerPC based systems. It includes an extensive IP offering and a suite of system level tools to facilitate the development of a complete PowerPC based embedded system in hours." For more information on the Embedded Development Kit and Xilinx processor solutions, visit www.xilinx.com/processor.

The Email Trigger core, available today directly from Amirix, generates standard SMTP email messages over an Ethernet connection when triggered by user hardware signals. The core can sample up to 64 signals at each trigger event, and report them in an email message. The design is a pre-packaged solution that enables the customer to use it as-is or customize the processor code for a specific application. The compiled processor code for the PowerPC based system is preloaded into BlockRAM of the FPGA, with the logic implemented in the FPGA fabric to generate a completely self contained IP core.

The PCI Platform board includes memories, peripherals and high-speed system interfaces that enable designers to develop and evaluate their PowerPC based systems. Customers save valuable time by developing, evaluating and debugging their embedded, high-performance system designs on a single platform.

Programmable World 2003 Workshops
Customers can learn more about the new EDK and PowerPC based Email Trigger solution from Amirix as part of the Programmable World 2003 Workshop sessions in the Embedded Processor Track. Xilinx workshops will include in-depth technical sessions on its embedded solutions. For complete program and registration information, visit www.xilinx.com/pw2003/workshop.

Product Availability
For more information on these products, visit the Xilinx IP Center at www.xilinx.com/ipcenter. The Email Trigger core is available for license directly from Amirix Systems under the terms of the SignOnce IP License, the industry's first multi-vendor common license for FPGA-based IP. Visit www.xilinx.com/ipcenter/signonce for more information. The development board is also available directly from Amirix. Discounts on the board are available to universities via the Xilinx University Program (XUP).

About Amirix
Founded in 1981, AMIRIX offers customized embedded systems design services by combining expertise in hardware, embedded software and board level systems integration. Our design solutions are flexible, time-to-market efficient and cost effective and can be found in defense, aerospace and medical applications, as well as telecommunications platforms. Our core competencies include high performance digital board design and integration, programmable logic and embedded software design. For more information, visit www.amirixlinux.com

# 03128