Xilinx Announces Compliance of World's Lowest-Cost Programmable PCI Express Solution

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 23, 2005 -- At the Intel Developers Forum today, Xilinx, Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX) announced that its programmable PCI Express endpoint silicon solution has successfully passed all the latest PCI Express compliance and interoperability tests. The two-chip solution, priced at less than $12.00 in high volumes, is the industry's lowest cost programmable PCI Express solution to be added to the PCI-SIG PCI Express Integrators List and to demonstrate full compliance to the PCI Express 1.0a specification. Xilinx is demonstrating the solution at this week's IDF, San Francisco Moscone Center, booth #926.

Comprised of the Philips PX1011A PCI Express PHY and a Xilinx Spartan(TM)- 3 FPGA and an optimized Xilinx PCI Express LogiCORE(TM) IP core, the solution is ideally suited for a wide range of high-volume applications including consumer video and audio, medical imaging, test equipment, graphics cards and high-end servers.

"With the availability of a low-cost PCI-Express solution for high volume applications, designers can now choose the time-to-market and flexibility benefits of an FPGA versus an ASSP," said Mark Aaldering, vice president of IP Solutions and the Embedded Processing Division at Xilinx. "By demonstrating full compliance to the latest suite of PCI Express compliance tests, the Philips-Xilinx programmable PCI Express solution will accelerate the development of inexpensive flexible PCI Express solutions."

"The inclusion of our low-cost programmable solution on the PCI Express Integrators List represents a significant milestone in our ability to meet the growing demand for programmable solutions in variety of connected consumer devices," said Pierre-Yves Lesaicherre, vice president, Business Line Standard ICs, Philips Semiconductors. "Philips PCI Express PHY chip combined with the Xilinx Spartan-3 and PCI Express LogiCORE IP core brings a two-chip solution to the market, enabling our customers to implement PCI Express in their systems at a reasonable price point."

Flexible Solution at Competitive Price Points

According to Electronic Trend Publications (ETP), the number of PCI Express ports is expected to exceed 2 billion in 2008. "The industry leaders are pricing their PCI Express offerings quite low, responding to market demand for PCI Express based product offerings," said Steve Berry, principal analyst, ETP. "The aggressive pricing of the Philips-Xilinx PCI-Express solution will help accelerate the adoption of this interface in many different high-volume applications by providing a flexible solution at competitive price points compared to fixed devices."

About the Programmable PCI Express Solution

This robust solution includes the Philips PCI Express PHY that delivers the SERDES serializer / deserializer and the Physical Coding Sub-Layer (PCS) and offers excellent bit rate performance. The Philips PHY consumes little power and features a small form factor that makes it ideal for ExpressCard applications. The Xilinx Spartan-3 FPGA portion features an industry-leading combination of block and distributed RAM, up to 784 I/Os, MicroBlaze(TM) 32-bit RISC soft processors and embedded XtremeDSP(TM) functionality supporting multiply and accumulates (MAC) functions (dedicated 18x18 multipliers deliver up to 330 billion MACs per second).

Programmable PCI Express Design Kit

A fully loaded reference design and design kit is immediately available in limited quantities for this low-cost solution through Tentmaker Systems (http://www.tentmakersystems.com). The Tentmaker PX Wave Design Kit includes Gerber layout files, schematics, Reference Design, example drivers, the Philips PX1011A-EL1 PCI Express PHY and a Xilinx Spartan-3 device. The design kit also includes 4 video analog-digital devices. Multiple logic analyzer headers and dip switches allow for easy development and debug. The PX Wave Design Kit is priced as low as $1,800 USD.

Pricing and Availability

The two-chip solution is priced at under USD $12.00 in high volumes. Philips and Xilinx semiconductor devices can be obtained through Avnet, a leading distributor providing cost-effective services and solutions vital to a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and 250 suppliers. Visit http://www.avnet.com for more information.

Also available is the Xilinx LogiCORE PCI Express IP product which provides a pre-defined, 100 percent compliant PCI Express endpoint solution suitable for a broad range of high volume computing and communication applications. The PCI Express LogiCORE IP core, (DO-DI-PCIE-PIPE) is priced at USD $14,000 (a one time charge). For more information, visit http://www.xilinx.com/pciexpress-pipe .

About Xilinx

Xilinx, Inc. is the worldwide leader of programmable logic solutions. Additional information about Xilinx is available at http://www.xilinx.com.

*Based on Philips PX1011A-EL1 device Spartan-3E XC3S500E -5 speed grade, 100Ku volumes, second half 2006, commercial temperature, lowest cost package option

SOURCE Xilinx, Inc.