SAN JOSE, Calif., July 23, 1998–Xilinx Inc., (NASDAQ:XLNX) and AllianceCORE partner CoreEl MicroSystems (Fremont, CA), today announce the immediate availability of a complete core solution for the second generation 10/100 Mbit per second Ethernet media access controller (MAC) market. The solution includes the Xilinx FPGA-based 10/100 Ethernet MAC transmitter and receiver cores and a complete test bench for system verification. CoreEl is also shipping an FPGA-based Ethernet 10/100 MAC evaluation board exclusively for Xilinx FPGAs. 

"The density and performance offered by Xilinx FPGAs allows us to offer the high-density and performance-driven cores that were previously available only on ASIC technology. We plan to accelerate our FPGA-based core development program as the density and performance of these devices increases," said Chetan Sanghvi, president of CoreEl MicroSystems. "Our knowledge and experience in using Xilinx programmable logic, coupled with our extensive hardware verification for their devices, should give customers tremendous confidence in this solution." 

The fully-compliant IEEE 802.3 standard 10/100 Ethernet MAC core (CS-1100) was ported to the XC4000 FPGA family earlier this year by CoreEl. Similar to many AllianceCORE solutions, a hardware demonstration board was developed to thoroughly test the core in a real-world environment. 

Flexibility for new markets 

Target applications for this solution include Ethernet network interface controllers (NICs) and switches along with Ethernet-based instrumentation, network management, and monitoring tools. Many of these have unique feature requirements that are ideally suited for an FPGA implementation. 

An FPGA-based solution allows customers to quickly get to production with systems that incorporate features not currently provided by existing ASIC cores or standard chipsets. These include support for flow control and the new reduced media independent interface (RMII) as well as the emerging remote monitor (RMON) and virtual local area network (VLAN) standards. These features can be easily implemented along with the CoreEl cores and a bus-interface in a single Xilinx FPGA. 

"We are expanding our joint product offering with a complete solution that addresses the midrange Ethernet market with the features and flexibility that current chipsets and cores do not address," said Mark Bowlby, manager of the Xilinx AllianceCORE program. "Our five-year relationship with CoreEl has produced complete solutions such as the announcements made earlier this year for the Xilinx FPGA-based cores for the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) market." 

Easy development before production 

To complement the solution, CoreEl has also developed an evaluation board that emulates a standard PC-based Ethernet NIC card. The board can be used to test the functionality of the Ethernet MAC cores with customer-specific logic. The board includes two Xilinx XC4028EX FPGAs: one implementing the MAC core and related features while the other implements the host interface and related circuitry. The current version of the card has an ISA bus interface for a host PC. 

All of these products are available directly from CoreEl MicroSystems. Pricing for the Xilinx versions of the Ethernet cores start at $12,500 each and the evaluation board at $5,000. CoreEl also offers full technical support and customization services at additional cost for customers who want to integrate or modify the cores for use in Xilinx devices. 

"With this announcement, Xilinx now offers a competitive solution over inflexible standard Ethernet chipsets," continued Bowlby. "For example, customers using the receiver core can put it in a Spartan device and for an effective cost of $3.86. The receiver core uses 71 percent of a $5.45 XCS20XL device (100K unit)." 

Founded in 1992, CoreEl MicroSystems, Inc., is located in Fremont, Calif. CoreEl is a leading Intellectual Property provider for the communications market. Corecells from CoreEl support the ATM, SONET, Ethernet, IP over SONET, and telecom transmission applications. These Corecells include Gigabit MAC, Fast Ethernet MAC, a full family of ATM Corecells, a full family of SONET, and other transmission Corecells. Many of these Corecells are optimized for FPGAs. For more information on CoreEl, access the World Wide Web at www.coreel.com. 

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 headquarters in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) and commands more than half of the world market for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to significantly reduce the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunication, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, high-reliability/military, and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at www.xilinx.com.