Xilinx Enables Instant Deployment of New PCI Express Technology

The company delivers world's first PCI Express product on the same day the PCI-SIG announces the specification as final

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 22, 2002 -Xilinx, Inc. (Nasdaq:XLNX) today announced it's enabling the instant deployment of PCI Express based systems with the immediate delivery of the world's first PCI Express intellectual property core. An industry first, Xilinx delivers the solution on the same day the PCI-SIG announces the specification as final, expediting the implementation of PCI Express by twelve to eighteen months and demonstrating the power of programmable logic. The core uses the proven Rocket I/O™ 3.125 Gbps serial transceivers of the company's flagship Virtex®-II Pro FPGAs - the only device available on the market capable of implementing the new specification. PCI Express is considered the successor to the PCI legacy and is targeted at the desktop, mobile, server, storage and embedded communications markets. For complete information about the PCI Express core, visit www.xilinx.com/systemio .

Today's news underscores the company's commitment to provide customers with the ultimate connectivity platform and a wide-range of leading parallel and serial connectivity solutions for tomorrow's networking and communication designs. Xilinx, along with other industry leaders, is actively participating as a key developer in the PCI Express Advanced Switching working group to develop the communications extension for PCI Express. Xilinx also plans to incorporate PCI Express with advanced switching into its Virtex-II series FPGAs.

"Xilinx has shown increasing involvement in defining and proving its state-of-the-art I/O technology through its delivery of emerging I/O standards. The release and shipment of this new core at the same time a final specification is released will allow designers to begin prototyping PCI Express solutions immediately, well ahead of any ASIC-based implementations, thereby building significant industry momentum around the newest PCI specification," said Cary Snyder, noted industry expert and analyst. "By using the programmability and serial transceiver capability of the Virtex-II Pro's device, Xilinx was able to develop its core in parallel with its participation in the definition of the specification - a true testament to the capability and benefits of programmable systems."

The PCI Express Core
The Xilinx PCI Express core is protocol and electrically compatible to the v1.0 base PCI Express specification. Designers can utilize the interface to maximize performance and feature quality for high-performance workstations and consumer gaming devices. The core reaches a 2.5 Gbps line speed utilizing the features of the Rocket I/O multi-gigabit transceivers such as clock data recovery, 8B/10B encoding, 3.125 Gbps SerDes, transmit/receive FIFOs, and CRC. Customers can use the core to design high performance PCI Express systems using Xilinx Smart-IP™ technology to meet critical 2.5 GHz timing requirements.

"During the past decade, the PCI local bus has been a hugely successful interconnect standard. PCI Express takes PCI to another level, with a high-speed, scalable serial architecture that provides exciting new I/O options for system partitioning designs and form factors," said Tony Pierce, PCI-SIG chairman. "The Virtex-II Pro FPGA and PCI Express core are powerful building blocks in helping the industry-wide transition from PCI to PCI Express."

"As the leader in high-speed interface test and measurement instruments and solutions, Agilent is pleased to be collaborating with Xilinx, the leader in platform and system connectivity solutions, to accelerate the industry-wide adoption of the PCI Express specification," said Byron Anderson, senior vice president and general manager of the Electronic Products and Solutions Group at Agilent Technologies.

License price and availability
The PCI Express core is available now as a LogiCORE™ product under the terms of SignOnce™ IP license and is priced at $25,000. Once purchased, it can be configured and downloaded from the Xilinx website at . For more information and to purchase the Virtex-II Pro FPGA, visit www.xilinx.com/platform . Information about licensing and other Xilinx LogiCORE products is available on the Xilinx IP Center at www.xilinx.com/ipcenter .

About This Week's Metro-Optical Networking Forum
Xilinx, along with other industry leaders, will also host a free one-day event on July 25, 2002 in Santa Clara, Calif. The all-day event is the first to address the challenges of designing and developing products for the metro area and edge access networks. Attendees will hear first hand from industry experts on where this dynamic market is headed, as well as the technologies driving success in the MAN space. For complete agenda and registration information, visit www.xilinx.com/metro .

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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