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Corporate Backgrounder
Xilinx, the leading innovator of complete programmable logic solutions, develops manufactures and markets a broad line of advanced integrated circuits, software design tools and predefined system-level functions delivered as cores. Customers use automated software tools and cores from Xilinx and its partners to program the chips to perform custom logic operations or other system-level processing functions. Xilinx programmable logic solutions help minimize risks for manufacturers of electronic equipment by shortening the time required to develop products and take them to market. Customers can design and verify their unique circuits in Xilinx programmable devices much faster than they could by choosing traditional methods such as mask-programmed gate arrays. Moreover, because Xilinx devices are standard parts that need only to be programmed, customers are not required to wait for prototypes or pay large non-recurring engineering costs. Customers incorporate Xilinx programmable logic into products for a wide range of markets. Those include data processing, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, consumer electronics, automotive, military and aerospace markets. Xilinx has more than 5,000 customers worldwide. Among the largest are Alcatel, Bull-France, Cabletron, Cisco Systems, EMC, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lockheed-Martin, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, NEC, Newbridge Networks, Nokia, Northern Telecom, Siemens, StorageTek, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments. Xilinx was founded in 1984 to pioneer a revolutionary new technology, the FPGA, and shipped its first commercial product in 1985. Today Xilinx fulfills more than half the world demand for FPGAs. The Xilinx product line also includes complex programmable logic devices CPLDs, which are generally faster than FPGAs for certain control functions but have fewer logic resources. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Xilinx is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: XLNX) that employs approximately 1,500 people worldwide. Revenues for the latest fiscal year ending April 3, 1999, were $662 million, up 8 percent, while net income was $131.8 million, up 4 percent from the prior year. Market researcher Dataquest currently ranks Xilinx as the seventh largest ASIC supplier in the world. According to market researcher In-Stat, factory revenue for programmable logic devices totaled more than $2 billion in 1998 and is expected to represent approximately a $4 billion opportunity by 2002. At the low-end of the programmable logic market, more and more designers are switching from older programmable array logic (PAL) devices to CPLDs that provide higher densities ranging from a few hundred to several thousand gates. At the high-end of the market, FPGAs are increasingly being used as replacements for more costly mask-programmed gate arrays and logic designs requiring up to one million system gates. About 65 percent of Xilinx revenue comes from the communications and networking markets, which are characterized by last minute design modifications and rapidly changing standards. Customers in these sectors use Xilinx programmable logic in products such as routers, hubs, network adapter cards, telephone handsets, wireless base stations, cable and DSL modems, line testers and central office switches. Manufacturers of data processing equipment - workstations, servers, mass storage devices, printers and scanners, for example -account for another 20 percent of Xilinx revenue. The remaining 15 percent come from sales to manufacturers of industrial control, instrumentation, defense and aerospace equipment. As a "fabless" supplier, Xilinx partners with leading semiconductor manufacturers - UMC Group in Taiwan and Seiko Epson in Japan - through close business relationships or equity positions in their factories. This strategy allows Xilinx to focus on designing new product architectures, software tools and cores while having access to the most advanced semiconductor process technologies. Today Xilinx is producing programmable logic devices on state-of-the-art 0.35 and 0.25-micron process technology, and development of 0.18-micron devices is well underway. Xilinx has manufacturing operations in San Jose and near Dublin, Ireland, where product design, software development, final testing and quality analysis take place. Xilinx also has facilities in Boulder, Colorado, where much of the company's software development takes place, and in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where development of the CoolRunner CPLDs takes place. Customer requirements for logic solutions that provide higher speeds and greater logic density continue to drive the demand for Xilinx products. The company currently offers several series of FPGAs and CPLDs that are tailored to meet the requirements of different applications. Virtex The Virtex series has numerous built-in features to solve designers' challenges throughout the system: broad capability for chip-to-chip communications through support for new I/O standards, clock signal synchronization on the FPGA and on the board, and a memory hierarchy to manage fast access to RAM on and off chip. With the Virtex series, digital designers for the first time can use an FPGA to perform not only familiar logic functions, but also tasks that were formerly handled at the board level by separate, dedicated parts. The Virtex series eliminates the need for components such as phase lock loops, voltage translation buffers, and memory when on-chip RAM is sufficient. This high level of integration allows designers to reduce overall system power requirements, cut costs, and save board space. Board level functions supported by the Virtex series include multiple, fully digital delay locked loops (DLLs) and support for more than a dozen deep submicon signaling standards. With these and other unique features, the Virtex series has created a new industry benchmark for FPGA functionality and performance. Virtex technology provides the foundation for a scalable platform of FPGAs that are produced using a leading-edge 0.22-micron, five-layer metal process. Virtex FPGAs operate at system frequencies of up to 160 MHz. Densities for the new Virtex FPGAs range from the Xilinx XCV50™ device, with 50,000 system gates at the low end, to the high-end Xilinx XCV1000™ device, the first one-million gate FPGA to come to market. XC4000XL/XLA XC4000XV XC4000E/EX and XC5000 Spartan XC9500 Xilinx Internet-enabled Software Solutions At Xilinx, software tools are a key part of the company's programmable logic solutions. Since its inception, Xilinx has shipped more than 60,000 development systems to customers worldwide. Today Xilinx offers two lines of design and implementation software that is Internet-enabled to allow designers instant and direct access from the tools to the technical support area of the Xilinx Web site. Alliance Series Foundation Series Core Solutions Today, more than 60 different predefined cores are available to implement system-level functions directly in Xilinx programmable logic devices. These cores, available from Xilinx and third-party partners, allow designers to cut design time and significantly reduce risk while having access to the best performing and lowest cost components available. Full information about Xilinx cores is available on-line from the IP Center area of the Xilinx Web site LogiCORE products are sold and supported directly by Xilinx and include a PCI interface, digital signal processing (DSP) functions and a number of other modules such as adders, multipliers and look-up tables. AllianceCORE modules are sold and supported by a network of third-party developers and are optimized for Xilinx devices. Current AllianceCORE products range from RISC processors and standard peripheral controllers to ATM functions. The CORE Generator tool from Xilinx delivers highly optimized cores that are compatible with standard design methodologies for Xilinx FPGAs. This easy-to-use tool generates flexible, high performance cores with a high degree of predictability and allows customers to download future core offerings from the Xilinx web site. Both Xilinx and independent IP developers can design cores for the CORE Generator tool, which also serves as a cataloging and delivery system for related collateral for all designers using Xilinx. Xilinx Online Upgradable Systems In 1998 Xilinx announced its broad ranging "Silicon Xpresso" initiative to step up use of the Internet and Java tools and applications to increase the productivity of designers who use Xilinx programmable logic solutions. Silicon Xpresso includes: Internet Reconfigurable Logic (IRL) JBits ChipScope is a portable, interactive debug tool, written in Java, that allows designers to examine the operation of Xilinx FPGA circuits. The ChipScope tool, like the JBits API, is Internet enabled, allowing for remote debugging of IRL based products. Designed to show data flow, the ChipScope tool displays the internal states of all FPGAs in the system. The ChipScope tool simplifies design verification required for system-on-a-chip designs. A waveform display permits both bit-level signal and multi-bit busses to be viewed in fashion similar to that used by circuit simulators. Moreover, a remote access feature allows multiple users to communicate with the hardware over a network for Internet team-based design. The ChipScope tool also allows the designer to functionally view tagged, but secure, intellectual property. This enables discrete core manipulation for system-on-a-chip design. Java API for Boundary Scan is a Java API for the boundary scan market for programming, testing and debugging PLDs from any supplier. This Java API simplifies the current work flow, which now requires that device-dependant routines be translated, compiled and chained for each vendor's PLDs to ensure they are mounted properly and connected to other components according to design. The Java API for boundary scan will extend the Java platform's "Write Once, Run Anywhere" capability to the field of programmable logic. Any PLD supplier as well as manufacturers of automatic test equipment, device programmers and JTAG software developers can deploy it. In addition, it can be used to communicate with embedded processors, or Java Virtual Machines, to control board-level functions. JBits applications, or "applets," can use the Java API for Boundary Scan for platform independent device configurations deployed locally or remotely over the Internet. These applets can be control programs, consumer interface programs, or updates. Previously, Java applets were only used to send software updates via the Internet. The JBits API makes its possible to create Java logic applets that can used to send new hardware updates via the Internet. WebFitter is an Internet-based software productivity tool that permits customers anywhere in the world to do on-line fitting of CPLD designs from their PC or workstation. Designers access WebFitter from the Xilinx Web site and work from a graphical user interface integrated with the Netscape browser. WebFitter produces complete on-line reports for design evaluation, and it eliminates the need for designers to load software or manage updates and licenses because the latest Xilinx tools always reside on the Xilinx Web site. WebFitter accepts design files for Xilinx XC9500 complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) and supports VHDL, Verilog, ABEL, XNF or EDIF input formats. After completing a front-end design, users simply enter their email address, attach their design file and send it to the Xilinx server for compilation. Shortly after, a return email provides a complete fitter report and bitstream to implement the design in the PLD. To reach its broad customer base, Xilinx has established a worldwide network of independent sales organizations - manufacturer representatives and distributors - supported by more than a dozen Xilinx sales offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Approximately 65 percent of Xilinx revenue come from sales in North America. Europe accounts for 20 percent of sales, Japan 10 percent, with South East Asia and the rest of the world generating another 5 percent. The Xilinx commitment to customer success includes a complete and uniquely accessible array of services, training and support. Xilinx experts provide responsive resolutions to problems and creative, timely solutions to design challenges. A team of factory-based applications engineers forms the core of the Xilinx support organization. Another 300 field application engineers (FAEs) throughout North America, Europe and Asia provide on-site answers and consulting services for customers. FAEs, both from Xilinx and the company's independent sales organizations, are experts in electronic design. They also offer design evaluation of new projects and close consultation through the design process. Full training in design completion and methodology review is also available, along with special application consultation. Xilinx augments this front-line knowledge with 24-hour access to sophisticated customer support information systems. Xilinx provides a worldwide cooperative hotline network and offers instant access to the latest information on the company's products and services through its XTALK network of electronic services. XTALK includes a bulletin board; E-mail access to technical support, applications and documents; phone-driven fax-back and order information systems. For more information, contact:
Xilinx is a registered trademark of Xilinx, Inc. All XC-prefix products, CORE Generator, Foundation, Alliance, HardWire, IP Center, LogiCORE, Virtex, WebFittter, Xilinx Online and AllianceCORE are trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. Other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. |
