Aptix improves pre-silicon prototyping, introduces prototyping modules for SoC designs with Xilinx XC2V8000 Virtex-II FPGAs

SAN JOSE, Calif. - April 8, 2003-Aptix Corporation, a leading supplier of pre-silicon prototyping tools and platforms for embedded system-on-chip (SoC) design, introduced today Flexible Prototyping Modules with Xilinx XC2V8000 Virtex-II Platform FPGAs for use with its System Explorer™ and Software Integration Station™ systems.

The XC2V8000 Virtex-II FPGA from Xilinx is an ideal vehicle for pre-silicon prototyping, since it supports an ASIC gate equivalent capacity of over 550,000 gates and includes over 3 Megabits of RAM, as well as Intellectual Property (IP) distribution-enabling encryption capabilities.

Aptix Sr. Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Charlie Miller, said, "Since we are committed to open platforms, we can support the very latest FPGA technology so our customers can take advantage of advances like the XCV2V8000 from Xilinx."

Flexible Prototyping Modules add a new dimension to the system-level modeling capability of the Aptix platform. Users of Aptix pre-silicon prototyping platforms can now leverage the extensive I/O and IP capabilities, as well as the higher speed and greater gate capacity of the Virtex-II Platform FPGAs from Xilinx.

A Flexible Prototyping Module contains one or two Xilinx XC2V6000 or XC2V8000 Virtex-II FPGA ICs, and up to ten of the modules can be plugged directly into the Aptix System Explorer and/or Software Integration Station. This provides a maximum gate capacity of over 10 million ASIC gates when using the dual-density XC2V8000 configuration. The Flexible Prototyping Modules are also compatible with the Aptix's systems' software

Encryption for Intellectual Property
Delivering working product prototypes to potential customers before actual silicon is available dramatically reduces the time required to realize significant revenues. However, many SoC designs incorporate sensitive, proprietary IP that cannot be provided in an unencrypted format. The encryption capabilities of the Virtex-II family of Platform FPGAs from Xilinx enable the early delivery of such IP. With these modules, customers can provide valuable feedback in time to be incorporated in final product releases and can get a head start on their product development.

Price and Availability
Aptix Pre-Silicon Prototyping Systems with the Aptix Flexible Prototyping Module are available now, and start at $60,000 (USD).

About Aptix
Aptix Corporation is a leading provider of high-performance pre-silicon prototype (PSP) systems to System-on-Chip (SoC) developers, enabling them to accelerate their time-to-market, reduce costs and improve their product performance. Aptix's reconfigurable and portable PSPs enable hardware developers to integrate custom logic and to verify and debug complex SoC designs in a real-world environment and software developers to accelerate the firmware and application software development timeline. In addition, these flexible prototypes can be deployed for field-testing and to multiple customers for evaluation, providing a development head start.

Visit Aptix on the web at http://www.aptix.com. Aptix is headquartered at 1338 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95131. http://www.aptix.com.

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Aptix® and the Aptix logo are registered trademarks of Aptix Corporation. System Explorer™ and Software Integration Station™ are trademarks of Aptix Corporation. Virtex is a trademark of Xilinx Corporation. All other registered trademarks or tradenames are the property of their respective owners.