PLDA's XpressFX Prototyping Platform, Based on the Xilinx Virtex-4 FX FPGA, Achieves Record Sales

San Jose, Calif., October 26, 2006 — PLDA today announced record sales of its XpressFX, the industry's first comprehensive PCI Express® prototyping board based on Xilinx Virtex™-4 FX field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The XpressFX PCIe™ system ships with a free IP controller, driver, test suite, and reference design as well as complete technical support.

“The comprehensive PCIe development platform from PLDA and the embedded high-speed serial capabilities of our Virtex-4 FPGAs provide system designers with the fundamental building blocks for getting their products to market faster,"  says David Gamba, director of partnerships at Xilinx. “Together, they also provide a solution that meets the stringent performance and functionality requirements of leading-edge PCIe applications.”

The XpressFX is among the first to support a PCIe x8 solution on an FPGA. "The XpressFX allows our clients to immediately start a PCIe design with minimal internal development costs and time," explains Arnaud Schleich, co-founder and vice president of Sales and Marketing at PLDA. "When combined with the advantages of Virtex-4 FX FPGAs, customers can literally save months of development effort."

The PCIe XpressFX supports the FX100 or FX60 using configurations of x8, x4, or x1 lanes. The board features 1 Gb DDR2-SDRAM, two high-speed Samtec connectors, two high-speed SFP connectors, two HSSDC2 connectors, an expansion area, and PLDA's PCIe XpressLite IP Controller. Other deliverables include: test benches, reference designs, a Software Development Kit (SDK), technical documentation, and technical support provided directly by the PLDA engineering team.

PLDA's silicon proven XpressLite IP controller, included with the board, has been listed on PCI-SIG's Integrators list since 2004. Today, PLDA has sold more than 200 PCI Express licenses and offers two families of PCI Express IP that support x1, x4, and x8 lanes for Root Port, Endpoint, Bridge, and Switch configurations. "PLDA is the largest provider of IP cores for the logical and transport layers of PCI, PCI-X and PCI Express," according to A Guide to High-Speed Interconnects, published by The Linley Group, Inc.

Shipping Now
The PCIe XpressFX starts at $3,990 and is shipping now. Please contact sales@plda.com for details.

About Xilinx Virtex-4 FX FPGAs
Named “Ultimate Product of the Year” by the EE Times Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) 2006 awards, Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGAs deliver more options, higher performance and lower power than any other FPGA family in production today. Virtex-4 FX FPGAs provide system designers with a single-chip platform optimized for high-performance processing and high-speed serial applications. Using the unique domain-optimized approach of integrating key intellectual property blocks across multiple product platforms, designers can select the optimal mix of logic, embedded processing and connectivity resources to achieve the highest functionality at the lowest cost for their applications.

About PLDA
PLDA designs and sells a wide range of ASIC and FPGA interfacing solutions for the PCI and derivative markets (PCI Express, PCI-X, and PCI). The company offers complete solutions to a global market, including IP cores, hardware, software, consulting services, and comprehensive technical support provided directly by the IP designers. For additional information about PLD Applications, please visit www.plda.com.