<..Remember the volume competitor for TI DSPs is actually full custom ASICs, and Taiwan Semiconductor is going to be providing them
pretty cheap...>
Interesting analysis Bilow.
If you think custom ASICs are volume competition to DSPs, what are your thoughts on the emergence of FPGAs as DSP competitors?
<A> Xilinx Releases High Reliability Versions of Largest, Fastest FPGA Family; Products Targeted as ASIC Replacements for Military and Aerospace Applications
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Xilinx, Inc., (NASDAQ:XLNX), the world leader in CMOS programmable logic devices, today announced the availability of high reliability versions of two members of the Xilinx XC4000XL family of FPGA devices -- the Xilinx XC4036XL and the XC4062XL.
The XC4000XL family is the industry's first full line of 3.3-volt FPGA devices with 5-volt tolerant I/Os manufactured on an advanced 0.35 micron process technology.
"This announcement reaffirms the commitment of Xilinx to provide military and aerospace customers with a cost-effective alternative to mask-programmed ASICs," said Rick Padovani, director of the High Reliability Products Group at Xilinx. "The higher density and performance of the XC4000XL series make these FPGA devices a superior solution compared to other ASIC alternatives for most applications."
The XC4036XL offers densities of up to 65,000 system gates with 3,078 logic cells. The XC4062XL offers up to 130,000 system gates with 5,472 logic cells. Logic cells also can be configured as RAM, offering more than 40K bits and 70K bits, respectively, in each device.
The two military grade devices are available in ceramic Quad Flat Pack (QFP) and Pin Grid Array (PGA) hermetic packages and operate over the full military temperature range of minus 55 degrees C to plus 125 degrees C.
Xilinx FPGA devices are standard, off-the-shelf parts that provide fast time-to-market yet involve neither the large non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs nor the minimum volumes required for mask-programmed military ASICs.
A design team at Raytheon T.I. in McKinney, Texas, recently conducted a trade-off study for the company's second generation Forward Looking Infrared System and concluded that FPGA devices were a better choice than ASICs.
"Careful consideration of high reliability ASIC NRE costs, development time, design reviews, prototype delivery time and risks clearly favor FPGA technology," said Cal Tenhet, a design engineer at Raytheon T.I.
"With Xilinx FPGAs we could make any necessary design changes right up to production. In fact, due to the flexibility of FPGAs, we were able to do our design sequentially and incrementally, a real plus given the tight schedule we were working under. We couldn't do this with ASICs."
Military grade versions of the XC4036XL and XC4062XL are available now direct from Xilinx and authorized distributors, with devices available to standard microcircuit drawings (SMD) expected within the next quarter.
Initial list price for M-grade high reliability versions of the XC4036XL device in the 411-pin ceramic pin grid array (PGA) package is $1,900 in 100-piece quantities. Military grade and SMD versions of the gate XC4013XL, offering 30,000 systems gates and 1,368 logic cells, are expected to be available in the first quarter of 1998.
Founded in 1984, Xilinx is the world's largest supplier of programmable logic solutions comprising industry leading device architectures and world class design software.
Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the company pioneered the market for field programmable gate array (FPGA) semiconductor devices that provide high integration and quick time-to-market for electronic equipment manufacturers in the computer, peripherals, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, consumer and high reliability/military markets. For more information on Xilinx, access the World Wide Web site at xilinx.com .
Note to Editors: Xilinx is a registered trademark of Xilinx, Inc. All XC-prefix product designations are trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. Other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Xilinx, Inc.
Ann Duft, 408/879-4726
ann.duft@xilinx.com
or
Oak Ridge Public Relations
Kathy Keller, 408/253-5042
kathy.keller@oakridge.com |
