Xilinx Announces Breakthrough 10 Gbps Technology

SAN JOSE, Calif., February 24, 2003 - Xilinx, Inc., (NASDAQ:XLNX), the world's leading provider of programmable IC and programmable system solutions, today announced the successful demonstration of serial technology at 10 Gbps on a single channel. Xilinx is the first PLD vendor to demonstrate 10 Gbps technology using a standard CMOS logic process. Today's announcement represents a major milestone in the Xilinx Serial Tsunami initiative, and further extends the company's leadership position in high-speed serial solutions. Based on Non-Return to Zero (NRZ) signaling, this technology supports industry leading chip-to-chip, chip-to-module, and serial backplane applications. Xilinx plans to deploy its groundbreaking 10 Gbps circuitry in products slated for delivery this year.

"Serial solutions will ultimately be deployed in nearly every electronic product imaginable," said Wim Roelandts, president and CEO at Xilinx. "The inherent scalability and cost advantages of high speed serial make this technology imperative for current and next-generation telecommunications, networking, and storage applications."

Analysts agree that the serial I/O wave is inevitable. Parallel I/O schemes reach physical limitations at speeds greater than 1 Gbps, no longer providing a reliable and cost-effective means for high-speed signaling. In addition to providing higher performance, Serial I/O-based designs bring cost advantages over parallel implementations through fewer device pins, reduced board space requirements, fewer PCB layers, easier layout of the PCB, and smaller connectors. Other advantages include reduced EMI and improved noise immunity.

"Serial connectivity is fast becoming a critical technology across a wide range of applications and markets," said Cary Snyder, a senior market analyst at Forward Concepts. "Demonstrating 10 Gbps technology is a major leap ahead for Xilinx over other PLD and ASIC suppliers and enables the next wave of emerging serial standards."

"Xilinx's demonstration of 10 Gbps in silicon is a significant milestone in making high-speed serial connectivity accessible to all," commented Mark Pierpoint, vice president at Agilent Technologies. "Agilent is able to support Xilinx and their users with the broadest selection of test and measurement solutions that will help drive adoption throughout the industry."

This announcement is a direct result of Xilinx's vision and commitment to the importance of serial signaling technologies which lead to the strategic acquisition of RocketChips, Inc. over two years ago. Today, the Communications Technology Division (formerly RocketChips) is focused solely on the creation and support of leading-edge multi-gigabit serial solutions.

Through its Serial Tsunami initiative Xilinx has already delivered a wide range of solutions:

• Virtex-II Pro Family: World's first platform FPGA with 622 Mbps to 3.125 Gbps serial transceivers.
• First-to-market with proven intellectual property cores, supporting key serial connectivity standards such as PCI Express™ and 1 and 10Gbps Ethernet (XAUI).
• Proven interoperability through demonstrations at key industry forums (e.g., PCI Express at Intel Developer's Forum, XAUI Group Test at University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab). 
• New lightweight link-layer protocol, Aurora, along with supporting reference design.
• Active leadership role in key industry standards organizations, including PICMG, Serial RapidIO Trade Association, NPF (Network Processor Forum), OIF, PCI-SIG and XFP.
• Wealth of design resources including development boards, design services, system design tools, and training.

About Xilinx
Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) is the worldwide leader of programmable logic solutions. Additional information about Xilinx is available at www.xilinx.com. 

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