Xilinx Solves Memory Interface Design Challenges With Virtex-4 Memory Development System

Easiest-to-use memory solution with unique ChipSync source synchronous circuitry cuts design time and provides industry's highest bandwidth

SAN JOSE, Calif., November 9, 2004 - Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) today announced the immediate availability of its ML461 Virtex-4 memory development system, the most flexible and highest bandwidth memory interface solution in the industry. Enabled by the innovative Virtex-4 ChipSync™ source synchronous technology, an automated, intelligent adjustment feature, the solution drastically reduces design time. The Xilinx ML461 development system includes proven reference designs, an easy-to-use Memory Interface Generator tool, and a complete hardware platform to provide designers with the ultimate design flexibility. Xilinx will showcase its new development system November 9-10 at the Denali Memcon Conference, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California.

With the ML461 Virtex-4 memory development system, customers can now achieve more than twice the bandwidth of any other programmable solution using the latest memory technology available, including 533Mbps DDR2 SDRAM and 300MHz QDR II SRAM, with bus widths up to 144 bits.

The Virtex-4 ChipSync technology, implemented in every I/O, simplifies the implementation of memory interfaces by compensating for routing, process, temperature, and voltage variations that produce skew between data and clock signals. This unique feature alleviates post-design adjustments and significantly improves customer design cycle and system reliability. The Xilinx memory solutions are verified in hardware using the latest and highest speed grade memory devices from industry leaders like Samsung and Micron.

"Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGAs provide high bandwidth programmable interface solutions for our industry-leading QDR II SRAM, DDR2 and DDR SDRAM memory devices," said I. J. Lee, associate director of SRAM and MCP Product Marketing at Samsung Semiconductor, a global leader in semiconductor technology. "With the combination of Xilinx fully hardware-verified, high performance Virtex-4 solutions and our memory devices, customers achieve greater design flexibility and cost savings while reducing time-to-market."

"The Virtex-4 memory interface enables system designers to implement a flexible, high bandwidth memory system resulting in robust and very competitive end products," said Mike Black, product marketing manager at Micron, one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. "As a leading supplier of high-performance memory technologies, such as DDR2 and RLDRAM® II, Micron is excited to see the Xilinx Virtex-4 memory interface solutions enter the market."

The Virtex-4 ML461 system includes hardware proven reference designs, a Memory Interface Generator tool and complete hardware platform. The Reference Designs provide high design margins to maximize system performance and reliability by leveraging advanced Virtex-4 features such as ChipSync, SmartRAM, and Xesium differential clocking. The designs, available in Verilog and VHDL, use a modular approach to provide distinct physical layer and controller blocks, enabling easy migration to other memory devices.

The Memory Interface Generator, a user-friendly software tool, supports any device/package combination - providing additional flexibility for system designers looking to easily customize the reference designs. The hardware platform features four Xilinx Virtex-4 LX25 devices and interfaces to DDR2, DDR SDRAM, QDR II SRAM, RLDRAM II, and FCRAM II memory devices. Also included are schematics and gerber files

About Xilinx Virtex-4 Platform FPGAs
Enabled by the revolutionary ASMBL (Advanced Silicon Modular Block) architecture, Virtex-4 FPGAs deliver more options than any other FPGA family available today. With more than 100 technical innovations, the Virtex-4 family consists of 17 devices and three domain-optimized platforms: Virtex-4 LX FPGAs optimized for logic-intensive designs, Virtex-4 SX FPGAs optimized for high-performance signal processing, and Virtex-4 FX FPGAs optimized for high-speed serial connectivity and embedded processing. A multi-platform approach makes it possible for customers to select the optimal mix of resources for their application to achieve the highest functionality and performance at the lowest cost.

About Xilinx Memory Corner
Memory Corner is a dedicated web portal for Xilinx and its partners to contribute and post new memory solutions. The website provides free, hardware proven memory interface Reference Designs for a wide range of memory types interfacing to Xilinx FPGAs and a complete overview of various memory interface solutions in the form of application notes and tutorials to help simplify the memory selection process. Memory interface solutions including DDR2, DDR SDRAM, QDR II SRAM, RLDRAM II, and FCRAM memory interfaces are available. For more information on Xilinx memory solutions, visit the Xilinx Virtex-4 web site at www.xilinx.com/virtex4.

Pricing and Availability
The Xilinx ML461 Memory Development System is available immediately at USD $5,995. Reference Designs and the Memory Interface Generator can also be downloaded for free from the Xilinx Memory Corner.

About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.