Wind River And Xilinx Announce Strategic Alliance To Deliver Development Tools For Xilinx FPGAs
Industry-First Alliance Includes OEM Tools Agreement To Promote The Rapid Adoption Of Programmable Platforms
SAN JOSE, CA--(INTERNET WIRE)--Jan 28, 2002 -- Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX),
the market leader in embedded software, today announced
a multi-year alliance and original equipment manufacturing
(OEM) development tools agreement whereby Xilinx will sell
a version of Wind River's development tools specifically
designed for its next generation Virtex(R)-II Platform FPGA
for the PowerPC(TM) 405 processor. The agreement is part
of the Wind River and Xilinx strategy to enable rapid adoption
and optimization of programmable platforms, and marks the
first time Wind River has entered into an OEM agreement
with a FPGA silicon vendor.
The new tool chain will enable hardware developers migrating
to the Xilinx Virtex-II Platform FPGA to rapidly configure
and program both the CPU core and Virtex-II Platform FPGA
device. With access to familiar, industry-standard development
tools from Wind River, system designers will benefit from
a significantly reduced learning curve when developing programmable
platforms in a wide variety of market segments.
"The semiconductor industry is entering a new era in electronic
design signified by accelerated technology advances, constantly
changing requirements, fierce competition, and more than
ever, uncertain commercial success of new electronic equipment.
Given these dynamics coupled with system architects' interest
in reducing design risk and time-to-market, we are seeing
a major industry shift towards completely programmable platforms,"
said Wim Roelandts, president and CEO at Xilinx. "Partnering
with Wind River to deliver established software tools will
accelerate this shift by allowing a large base of embedded
design engineers to fully exploit next generation programmable
hardware/software system technology."
"Given our common visions of the co-processing and re-configurable
computing landscapes, we're delighted to align with the
industry leader in this exciting field of emerging technology,"
said John Fogelin, chief technology officer and vice president
of Wind River's Platforms business unit. "Our alliance with
Xilinx will give FPGA developers the latest industry-standard
tools to rapidly bring their applications to market and
represents a key step toward optimizing the benefits of
programmable platforms while simplifying the development
process."
Wind River will provide a specific tool chain for distribution
by Xilinx that will include versions of Wind River's Diab
C/C++(TM) compiler suite, SingleStep(TM) with Vision software
debugger and visionPROBE II on-chip hardware-assisted debugger.
Wind River and Xilinx will also continue to collaborate
on a complete runtime solution for embedded FPGA developers
that will include closer integration of Wind River's industry
leading VxWorksâ real-time operating system (RTOS)
with Xilinx FPGA devices. This work will build upon Wind
River's single board computer 405GP co-processing development
platform as well as the Xilinx PAVE application-programming
interface (API) for the VxWorks RTOS.
These tools are ideal for hardware designers who want to
move sequential parts of their code onto a processor core
as well as low-level driver development. FPGA designers
that are exposed to the unfamiliar world of CPU development
are now empowered to perform CPU development with relative
ease, and can start making use of the embedded CPU immediately.
For software developers working with the Virtex-II Platform
FPGA, Wind River will continue to offer a complete set of
development tools to compliment the tools distributed by
Xilinx. These tools are well suited for developers working
with larger amounts of code who require advanced features
for custom hardware bring-up, firmware development and application
software development.
Product Availability
Xilinx will supply the Wind River tools in late Q1 2002.
The tools will be available in a development kit package
or can be purchased separately. The development kit offered
by Xilinx will include Wind River's compiler, debugger,
and on-chip hardware debug products with a reference/evaluation
board, reference designs, application software examples,
software drivers and documentation geared toward the development
of FPGA designs. For developers requiring advanced features
for custom hardware bring-up, firmware development and application
software development, an upgrade will be available from
Wind River.
Advantages of Programmable Platform
Today's digital designers need highly-optimized, upgradeable
ICs without the extreme up front cost and risk of a custom
circuit. The Xilinx Platform FPGA initiative describes a
setting in which the embedded software designer has earlier
access to the target hardware that exists today. Early target
hardware combined with the Wind River development tools,
enables the designer to develop and optimize the technology
in parallel with the hardware, which improves time to market
with increased performance, functionality and flexibility.
The blending of hardware, firmware, application software
and real-time operating systems into a platform-based approach
removes many of the barriers that exist in the embedded
world today.
About Wind River
Wind River is a worldwide leader in embedded software. Wind
River provides software development tools, real-time operating
systems, and advanced connectivity for use in products throughout
the Internet, telecommunications and data communications,
digital imaging, digital consumer electronics, networking,
medical, computer peripherals, automotive, industrial automation
and control, and aerospace/defense markets. Wind River is
how smart things think. Founded in 1983, Wind River is headquartered
in Alameda, California, with operations worldwide. For more
information about Wind River, visit www.windriver.com.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the leading supplier of complete programmable
logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits,
software design tools, predefined system functions delivered
as 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, and consumer markets. For more information,
visit the Xilinx web site at www.xilinx.com.
Wind River Systems and the Wind River Systems logo are registered
trademarks or trademarks of Wind River Systems, Inc. All
other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks
or service marks of their respective companies.
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