Xilinx Announces Microblaze Development Kit 2.1: New Features Enhance Industry's Fastest Soft Processor

SAN JOSE, CA--(INTERNET WIRE)--Feb 14, 2002 -- Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) today announced the availability of its newest version 2.1 of the MicroBlaze(TM) Development Kit (MDK). MDK 2.1 provides a complete solution for developing designs and applications based on the Xilinx® MicroBlaze soft processor core. The new kit includes several new peripherals including JTAG UART, SPI and external memory controllers for SRAM, Flash and ZBT as well as complete MicroBlaze design examples using Xilinx Virtex® and Spartan® FPGAs. Additionally, new enhancements have been made to the MicroBlaze GNU tools such as interrupt, initialization and address management to simplify and accelerate the debugging phase of the design cycle. Further, the kit allows system designers to customize device drivers and library elements for specific applications to maximize system performance. For more complete information on MDK 2.1 and the MicroBlaze soft processor, visit: www.xilinx.com/microblaze.

"Thanks to its compact implementation and industry leading performance, the market reception for MicroBlaze has been exceptional," said Mark Aaldering, senior director of IP Solutions at Xilinx. "With the edition of several new features, MicroBlaze is now more than ever positioned as a mainstream soft processor solution for applications in the consumer, high performance networking, and telecommunications space."

MDK 2.1 provides a complete solution for developing designs and applications based on the Xilinx MicroBlaze soft processor core. The MicroBlaze soft core is a 32-bit, Harvard bus RISC architecture supporting both on-chip and/or off-chip memory for code and data storage. The compact size of the processor core requires only 900 logic cells delivering up to 82 Dhrystone MIPs, making it an ideal solution for embedded design with FPGAs.

License Price and Availability

The MicroBlaze Development Kit (MDK) 2.1 includes a soft processor site license, access to the IBM CoreConnect(TM) bus, standard and additional fully parameterizable peripherals, enhanced GNU-based software tools, and system configuration tools. It is available now for $495, via the web at www.xilinx.com/microblaze. Xilinx also offers the MicroBlaze VHDL source code for $5000. Third party MicroBlaze development boards are also available.

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.