Tensilica Releases Xtensa Processor Emulation Kit Based on Xilinx Virtex II Platform FPGA

Update: Cadence Completes Acquisition of Tensilica (Apr 24, 2013)

Speeds Evaluation of Different Processor Options and Allows Software Development and Debug Earlier in SOC Design Cycle

August 26, 2002, Santa Clara, California … Tensilica,  Inc. today announced immediate availability of its new XT2000X Xtensa Microprocessor Emulation Kit for the new Xtensa V architecture, also introduced today. Based on the Xilinx Virtex II Platform FPGA, the XT2000X Emulation Kit lets designers evaluate various processor configuration options in a system environment, as well as begin software development and debug much earlier in the system-on-chip (SOC) design cycle. With this emulation kit and the Tensilica Xtensa V processor generator, a designer can specify, implement and debug a new processor configuration in a matter of a few hours.

This is the first Xtensa emulation kit based on the Xilinx Virtex II Platform FPGA. Tensilica also offers the XT2000A emulation kit based on the Altera 20K1500E FPGA.

"Now Tensilica customers have a choice of Xilinx or Altera emulation environments so they can use whichever implementation technology is most familiar," stated Steve Roddy, Tensilica's director of product marketing. "We're finding strong demand for emulation kits, which allow customers to quickly experiment with different configuration options and customer-specific instruction extensions. Additionally, emulation can dramatically speed the software development cycle, as the software team doesn't have to wait until the SOC is finished to begin their work."

With the Xtensa-V processor release, Tensilica now provides expanded, fully automated support for both XT2000 emulation kits through the Xtensa processor generator. Using the generator, designers configure an implementation of the Xtensa processor from a broad selection of predefined configuration options plus designer-defined instruction extensions. The Tensilica processor generator automatically creates the PROM programming bitstream necessary to implement the new processor in the XT2000 board.  All the designer has to do is download the bitstream file into the configuration PROMs on the XT2000X or XT2000A board.

Processor emulation using the XT2000 emulation kits provides several orders of magnitude speed improvement over HDL simulators or C-language simulations. With emulation, new Xtensa processor configurations can be tested more thoroughly and with far larger code and data sets than with traditional simulation methodologies. Users can even run a commercial real time operating system on the XT2000 emulation board within hours of creating a new processor.  The XT2000X can execute over 33 million processor cycles per second compared with 200,000 to one million cycles per second for the Xtensa instruction set simulator and 2,000 to 10,000 cycles per second for a typical HDL simulator. These numbers are representative of average cases, as simulation speed is dependent on the computer used.

The XT2000X Emulation Kit includes the XT2000X emulation board, power supply, Macraigor Systems Wiggler interface connector, user's guide, and CD-ROM with software. The XT2000X emulation board includes a Xilinx Virtex II Platform FPGA that hosts the configured Xtensa processor at emulation speeds up to 33 MHz, 256MB SDRAM, 4MB EPROM, 32MB flash memory, 2MB synchronous SRAM, 1MB SRAM, three PCI slots, a Compact PCI slot, 10-base T Ethernet connector, two UARTS, expansion/daughter card connectors, an LED display, Xtensa's generic bus interface, and an Xtensa OCD port and Trace port for debug. BootROM for WindRiver System's VxWorks or Accelerated Technology, Inc.'s Nucleus RTOS is available for the XT2000X emulation kit.

Pricing and Availability

The Xtensa XT2000X Emulation Kit is available now for a single-unit price of $19,500. 

About Tensilica

Tensilica was founded in July 1997 to address the fast-growing market for configurable processors and software development tools for high volume, embedded systems. Using the company's proprietary Xtensa processor generator, system-on-chip (SOC) designers can develop a processor subsystem hardware design and a complete software development tool environment tailored to their specific requirements in hours. Tensilica's solutions provide a proven, easy-to-use, methodology that enables designers to achieve optimum application performance in minimum design time. The company has over 140 engineers engaged in research, development, and customer support from its offices in Santa Clara, California; Burlington, Massachusetts; Princeton, NJ; Austin, Texas; Raleigh, NC; Oxford, U.K.; Stockholm, Sweden; Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.; and Yokohama, Japan. Tensilica is headquartered in Santa Clara, California  (95054) at 3255-6 Scott Boulevard, and can be reached at (408) 986-8000 or via www.tensilica.com on the World Wide Web.

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Editors Notes:

"Tensilica" and "Xtensa" are registered trademarks belonging to Tensilica Inc. Xilinx and Virtex are registered trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Tensilica's announced licensees are Avision, Bay Microsystems, Berkeley Wireless Research Center, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Conexant Systems, FUJIFILM Microdevices, Fujitsu Ltd., Hughes Network Systems, IC4IC, Ikanos Communications, JNI Corporation, Marvell, Mindspeed Technologies, National Semiconductor, NEC Networks, NEC Solutions, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT), Olympus Optical Co.Ltd., ONEX Communications, Olympus Optical, OptiX Networks, Osaka & Kyoto Universities, TranSwitch Corporation, Trebia Networks, Victor Company of Japan (JVC) and ZiLOG.