Xilinx Widens Undisputed FPGA Processor Leadership
Company Announces PicoBlaze 8-Bit Processor And Extends MicroBlaze 32-Bit Processor Performance To 100 D-MIPS; Total Installed User Base Surpasses 9,000
SAN JOSE, CA--(INTERNET WIRE)--May 1, 2002 -- Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) today announced that it has
widened its processor leadership with the availability of
the PicoBlaze(TM) 8-bit soft processor and increased performance
of the MicroBlaze(TM) 32-bit soft processor. The MicroBlaze
processor now runs at 150 MHz and delivers 100 Dhrystone
MIPS (D-MIPS) when implemented in the Virtex-II Pro(TM)
FPGA. Occupying only 900 logic cells, the MicroBlaze core
is the programmable logic industry's fastest and smallest
soft 32-bit processor available on the market today. Customers
can now leverage a wide-range of high performance Xilinx
processor solutions from the very compact 8- and 32-bit
soft processors to the 450 D-MIPS PowerPC which are all
available via the Virtex-II Pro solution. With 9,480 Xilinx
processor users to date, the company is the PLD processor
leader for a wide range of high bandwidth applications including
high performance programmable systems. For more information
on Xilinx processor solutions, visit www.xilinx.com/ipcenter/processor_central.
"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
