| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NURON CHOOSES XILINX VIRTEX FPGAS
SAN JOSE, Calif., June 27, 2000—Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), the leader in programmable logic solutions, today announced that Nuron, a new start-up company which is bringing programmable logic into mainstream computing, has chosen Xilinx® VirtexTM FPGAs over traditional ASIC implementation for their first product, the Nuron AcB. The Nuron AcB is a product Nuron categorizes as "liquidware" since it will work as a co-processor that reprograms itself to meet the needs of the machine it is accelerating. Nuron has decided to use Virtex FPGAs for their high performance, upgradable systems. While the first applied solution of the Nuron AcB will be SSL encryption acceleration, future uses of the Xilinx Internet Reconfigurable LogicTM (IRL) technology will allow the Nuron AcB to accelerate multiple processes, including data compression, voice recognition, media encoding and database queries, to name a few. Using programmable logic instead of fixed logic technology has enabled Nuron to bring their first product to market earlier and to create a product that takes the obsolescence out of processing. This flexibility combined with the inherent performance advantages of FPGAs has propelled Nuron to the forefront of a new market. "With the unique Xilinx IRL technology Nuron has been able to invent a whole new class of technology that we call fluid processing. Fluid processing integrates programmable logic as a coprocessor in a mainstream computing system, " said Chad Barden, chief operating officer of Nuron, LLC. "The additional benefit of programmable logic was that it allowed us to achieve a performance level unmatched in our market. We've found that the process geometry that fixed logic is based on, which many of our competitors choose, trails the FPGAs current process and could not perform the 800 transactions per second rate that our products provide." The Virtex class FPGA performs all processing functions supported by
the Nuron ACB. “We chose the Virtex line of FPGAs because of their speed,
density and their partial reconfigurability. Xilinx clearly had the best
solution for our design needs,” continued Barden.
"Nuron's strategic competitive advantage is fortified with the implementation of the IRL strategy," said Wallace Westfeldt, Internet Reconfigurable Logic marketing program manager. "They've chosen the best in FPGAs as a critical part of this strategy and, more critically, they have adopted a field upgradable philosophy as part of their design process. This will give them the greatest control over their product life cycles.” While Nuron sees the potential for fluid processing as limitless, they have identified the first immediate, real-world application of their products in accelerating SSL encryption on web servers. Secure socket layer (SSL) traffic imposes extreme loads on even the most robust Internet services. Statistics show that a server not using an encryption accelerator spikes to 95 percent CP utilization while processing only 40 SSL transactions, resulting in decreased response time, lower transaction capacity, and customer and revenue loss. The Nuron Adaptive Computer Board (AcB) solves encryption problems by offloading SSL processing from the CPU, accelerating transaction processing and providing forward compatibility. In the future, this same board will be able to accelerate whatever process is eating the most system resources on that server, changing itself from instant to instant. More information on the Nuron AcB encryption acceleration solution can be found at www.nuron.com. About the Xilinx IRL technology and the Virtex Series Xilinx IRL technology allows programmable logic designers to access gates that they have designed anywhere in the world and years down the road. The Xilinx Online program is designed to identify and promote any Xilinx upgradable systems that are connected to a network that can be fixed, upgraded, or otherwise modified after the system has been deployed in the field. The Virtex series devices range from 50,000 to 1,000,000 system gates at clock speeds up to 200 MHz and include many new features that address system-level design challenges. Fully supported by the Xilinx software, the Virtex family offers a complete solution for Nuron, ready to meet the design challenges for their groundbreaking product. 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, California, 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. —30— #0058
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