SAN JOSE, Calif., March 3, 2000—Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) the programmable logic innovators and Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS), the technology leader for complex IC design, today announced a joint program for ASIC designers seeking to exploit the increased capability and time-to-market advantages of XilinxÒ FPGAs. The program offers both the tools and the technical know-how to easily transition from an ASIC. 

The tools provide a straightforward means for designers to evaluate the FPGA design flow within their familiar ASIC design environment. The flow provides advanced synthesis together with technology-specific optimization through Synopsys FPGA Compiler II, combined with the robust place and route capability of Xilinx Alliance Series^TM tools. To further aid the designer, Xilinx and Synopsys have developed an education program. Xilinx and Synopsys will co-host a web-based seminar on the design methodology to be held on March 8, 2000 on E.N.E.N., the Education, News & Entertainment Network. An application note detailing design techniques and methodology is available via the web. Separately, Xilinx Customer Training offers formal training courses in conjunction with this program.

"Using the new methodology, ASIC designers can easily evaluate this flow with the Xilinx Alliance Series/FPGA Compiler II evaluation kit," said Rich Sevcik, Xilinx senior vice president and general manager of software, cores, and support. "Moreover, we're not just offering up software; we're providing the critical educational tools and design support, as well, into the hands of the designers."

The advances in capacity and speed of FPGAs have made them increasingly attractive to ASIC designers. With ASIC designers considering the compelling advantages of programmable logic for many projects, design flow compatibility is essential. Most major standard cell and gate-array ASIC designers use Synopsys' Design Compiler today. FPGA Compiler II includes a suite of features to make it compatible with Design Compiler and also incorporates the advanced programmable synthesis technology of FPGAExpress. 

"FPGA Compiler II is the premier solution for the most sophisticated FPGA designers," said Jay Michlin, vice president and general manager of the FPGA group at Synopsys. "With the tight integration to Xilinx Alliance Series tools, ASIC designers can exploit multi-million-gate FPGA devices in a proven design environment while benefiting from the compelling time-to-market advantage of FPGAs.”

Industry Leading Products

The Xilinx Alliance Series software is designed for customers who have made an investment in an EDA environment customized to suit the needs. The Xilinx Alliance Series leverages open systems standards, interfaces, and formats and combines the strengths of the Xilinx EDA partner tools with the advanced implementation features found in the Xilinx software. Xilinx FPGAs are delivering the performance, capacity and density demanded by today's ASICs designers. Devices in the Virtex^TM-E family perform up to 311 MHz and have densities up to 3.2 million logic gates. The Spartan^TM-II family of FPGAs is designed to be the low cost alternative to ASICs up to 150,000 gates with many of the performance features found in the Virtex series.

FPGA Compiler II is built on the FPGA Express synthesis technology with additional advanced design features that provide compatibility with familiar ASIC design methodology. FPGAExpress continues to be the popular logic synthesis tool known for its high Quality of Results (QoR) and ease-of-use features. It includes architecture-specific optimization, a built-in static timing analyzer, and industry standard HDL support, all within an intuitive graphical user interface. FPGA Compiler II adds initial support for Synopsys’ DesignWare Foundation IP modules, a translator to and from the Design Compiler shell scripting language (dc_shell), and the ability to write Synopsys’ .db database so that projects can include additional processing with simulation, timing and other verification tools. In addition, FPGA Compiler II offers sophisticated Synopsys technology for automatic retiming and pipelining to provide instantaneous timing optimization without manual intervention. 

Price and Availability

The software kit, which contains evaluation copies of the Xilinx Alliance Series and Synopsys’ FPGA Compiler II software, is available from Xilinx with a free 30-day license. For a copy of the kit visit www.xilinx.com/programs/alliance/synopsys/fc2.htm. To register for the NetSeminar hosted by E.N.E.N visit www.netseminar.com. To register for Xilinx customer training visit www.xilinx.com/support/training/training.htm.

About Synopsys

Synopsys Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), is the leading supplier of electronic design automation (EDA) solutions to the global electronics market. The company provides comprehensive design technologies to creators of advanced integrated circuits, electronic systems and systems on a chip. Synopsys also provides consulting services and support to its customers to streamline the overall design process and accelerate time-to-market. Additional information about Synopsys is available at http://www.synopsys.com.

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the leading innovator of complete programmable logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined system functions delivered as cores, and unparalleled field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and fulfills more than half of the world demand for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, high-reliability/military, and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at www.xilinx.com.