FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

XILINX INTRODUCES WORLDS FIRST IEEE STD 1532 PROGRAMMING ENGINE

Xilinx teams with boundary scan tool partners and ATE partners 
to accelerate standard adoption

SAN JOSE, Calif., December 19, 2000—Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) announce today its 
J DriveTM programming engine for IEEE Std 1532 compatible devices. The J Drive Engine will accelerate the adoption of the new IEEE Std 1532 allowing PLD users to benefit from fast, easy and reliable programming. The IEEE Std 1532 provides a robust, unified approach to programming that enables easy field upgrades for new product features and extended life cycles. It simplifies concurrent programming of multiple devices while reducing test time and lowering manufacturing costs.

"Using J Drive as an enabling technology, PLD users, boundary scan tool developers, and automatic test equipment (ATE) manufacturers can quickly develop their own solutions for any platform including embedded processors," said Mustafa Veziroglu, Xilinx general manager of the Configuration Solutions Division. "Xilinx is quickly gathering support from a variety of industries requiring this standard. We are encouraged to see the number of endorsements from this standards benefactors.”

Designers can now configure Xilinx IEEE Std 1532 compatible PLDs in a boundary scan chain with the J Drive engine and a cable connected to the parallel port of any PC. Users can implement a conforming solution with all the inherent advantages without having to delve into minute operational details and methodologies of the standard.

Agilent Technologies

Ken Parker, engineer scientist at Agilent Manufacturing Test Division said, "In the early 1990s, Agilent undertook steps to develop the first BSDL parser for IEEE Std 1149.1 (JTAG). Similarly, the Xilinx J Drive engine will give the industry and users a baseline enabling technology. This will help speed industry adoption and tool incorporation.”

ASSET InterTech

Glenn Woppman, president and CEO of ASSET InterTech, a supplier of boundary scan tools in the U.S., said, “As the first software implementation of the IEEE 1532 standard, the J Drive engine is breaking new ground and offers benefits to our users who are doing in-system configuration. Xilinx has taken the initiative to accelerate the time to adoption of the standard that benefits the test and programming industry. ASSET’s ScanWorks™ has been developed as an open environment making it very easy to provide quick support of these new capabilities. The ASSET PLD Programming Station will incorporate the J Drive engine, combining support for both 1532 and pre-1532 devices into one easy-to-use tool ensuring a quick and easy transition to 1532 for our users.”

Corelis, Inc.

Corelis, Inc a full-line manufacturer of Boundary Scan Tools will incorporate support for the Xilinx J-Drive engine into in its boundary-scan tool suite. "We and our customers will see immediate benefits of using IEEE Std 1532 by using J Drive in early 2001,” said Menachen Blasberg, President of Corelis, Inc. "Our customers' requirements drove our decision incorporate the IEEE Std 1532 immediately into our tools.” 

GenRad Inc.

GenRad is actively participating in and supports adoption of IEEE Std 1532. Dennis Lia Principal Software Engineer GenRad Inc. and member of the IEEE Std 1532 committee said: “We feel it offers our customers the potential for increased productivity and throughput in their manufacturing process. Once fully implemented, this standard will facilitate timely configuration of PLDs supplied by multiple vendors. The Xilinx J Drive programming engine will accelerate the adoption of the new standard and the benefits that it promises.”

Goepel Electronic GmbH

Goepel Electronic GmbH was instrumental in the definition and specification of J Drive. "As a worldwide leader in the boundary scan domain, GOEPEL fully supports the idea behind IEEE Std 1532 to address the market need for a faster programming solution in PLD applications,” said Thomas Wenzel manager of Test Engineering. "First release of our next generation tools will be available as a result of working closely with Xilinx on the J Drive tool.”

Intellitech

CJ Clark, Chair of IEEE 1149.1 and Intellitech CEO said, "The initiative that Xilinx has taken with the J Drive programming engine could help accelerate the adoption of IEEE 1532 in the industry.  We will incorporate the J Drive engine into our Eclipse Scan Diagnostic tools enabling our Customers to get the benefits of the 1532 standard programming algorithms with fast programming hardware."

JTAG Technologies, Inc.

JTAG Technologies, a member of the working group that developed IEEE Standard 1532, has announced that it will support this significant advance in in-system programming of logic devices.  The new standard is seen as a significant step forward by formalizing the description of PLD programming algorithms and separating the algorithm from the programming data. The new standard matches seamlessly with the hardware and software product architecture of JTAG Technologies.

Ray Dellecker, US Marketing Manager of JTAG Technologies, stated that, "By means of tools based on 1532, users will realize significant benefits, including the ability to program devices simultaneously. Furthermore, the approach taken by 1532 allows us, as a vendor of boundary-scan based programming tools, to utilize the performance of our tools for the benefit of the user community.  Our users will benefit from the reduction in the total time required to develop programming applications as well as the actual programming time in production."

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the leading supplier 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.
 


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Xilinx, Inc. Xilinx, Inc.
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