Instead of taking weeks, you can now create and verify gigahertz-speed serial links on PCBs in days.

More than 500 designers and engineers have downloaded the Xilinx RocketIO™ Design Kit for Cadence Design Systems’ SPECCTRAQuest™ design and analysis environment for high-speed digital systems. Customers have clearly been pleased with the kit’s results in shortening time-to-market and reducing costs.

The design kit helps reduce the time needed to implement Virtex-II Pro™ RocketIO transceivers because it takes advantage of concurrent design efficiencies using technologies that address silicon, package, and board design.

The kit acts as an electronic blueprint that enables you to create, implement, and verify gigahertz-speed serial links quickly. Operating within the Cadence SPECCTRAQuest Signal Integrity Expert environment, the kit is a proven approach for characterizing the interactions between the Xilinx Platform FPGA and the rest of the system.

The design kit is the result of an alliance between Xilinx and Cadence to help you exploit the capacity and performance of the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGA family. “Our customers’ ability to quickly design-in the Virtex-II Pro Rocket IO technology is critical,” said Rich Sevcik, senior vice president and general manager of FPGA products at Xilinx. “By working with Cadence, we can minimize the design-in time for our mutual customers.”

Unique Features

The RocketIO Design Kit for SPECCTRA-Quest allows you to develop optimal constraints for PCB systems. The constraints drive the PCB floorplanning, routing, and verification process. The RocketIO Design Kit for SPECCTRAQuest includes:

• Ready-to-simulate system-level topologies for typical use of the device on the board/system
• Verified I/O buffer models
• Large package model
• Test-bench and correlation data
• Connector models for backplane applications
• Device-specific scripts and tools to evaluate simulation results
• Instructional video describing how to get started with the design kit.

Price and Availability

The RocketIO Design Kit for SPECCTRAQuest is provided free to Xilinx customers who have signed the appropriate non-disclosure agreement. More information is available at www.support.xilinx.com/. The Cadence SPECCTRAQuest Signal Integrity Expert product starts at a U.S. list price of $24,200 for a one-year license. For pricing outside of North America, contact your local Cadence office or distributor. More information regarding other Serial Tsunami design resources is available at www.xilinx.com/serialsolution.

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