SAN JOSE, Calif., October 16, 2000 -- Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) announced today the immediate availability of its new System Generator™ tool for Simulink® developed through an exclusive alliance between The MathWorks, Inc. and Xilinx. For the first time, digital signal processing (DSP) designers can use The MathWorks MATLAB® and Simulink tools to develop and simulate complete DSP designs implemented in FPGAs. The new tool bridges the recognized gap between system-level DSP design and FPGA hardware implementation, which is crucial for designers of high-performance DSP systems such as 3G wireless base stations, voice over IP (VoIP) and digital video broadcasting (DVB) equipment. By using the Xilinx® Virtex™-II architecture, DSP designers can now achieve up to 600 billion multiply and accumulate (MAC) operations per second DSP performance.

"The System Generator tool from Xilinx allows our common customers to access the leading FPGA technology for high-performance DSP designs," said, Ken Karnofsky DSP and communications marketing director at The MathWorks. "This has been a strong requirement from many of our key customers, especially within digital communication and image processing." 

The System Generator is the first product resulting from the exclusive alliance between The MathWorks and Xilinx formed in April this year. The goal of the alliance is to lead the market trend of using FPGAs for high-performance DSP applications. The scope of the alliance includes joint development, marketing and sales. In addition to tool development, the companies have completed an extensive training program involving both companies’ technical sales organizations and application groups to ensure a high-level of support.

"The release of the System Generator tool is a significant milestone in our plan to provide a complete solution for the high-performance DSP market," said Per Holmberg, senior product marketing manager of IP Solutions at Xilinx. "The new tool, combined with our library of optimized algorithms, places FPGAs in the mainstream of DSP designs, allowing DSP designers to benefit from the performance and flexibility advantages of our leading FPGA technology." 

Traditionally, DSP designers have chosen between an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or an application specific standard product (ASSP), and a DSP processor or microprocessor.  FPGAs combine both worlds by providing the performance and system integration of ASICs/ASSPs and the re-programmability and time-to-market benefits of processors.  

As a plug-in to the Simulink modeling software, the Xilinx System Generator tool provides a bit-accurate model of FPGA circuits and automatically generates a synthesizable Hardware Description Language (HDL) code and a testbench. The HDL design can then be synthesized for implementation in the Xilinx Virtex and Spartan®-II FPGAs. To maximize predictability, density, and performance, the System Generator tool automatically maps the system design to the Xilinx library of optimized LogiCORE™ algorithms. As a result, no redesign is necessary when migrating a design from the system description to the FPGA implementation, and only a single source of the design has to be maintained. This significantly cuts development time and eliminates the risk for introducing design errors.

Price and availability
The Xilinx System Generator tool or Simulink is available today at an introductory price of $995 (valid through February 2001). Ordinary list price is $1,995.  The tool can be purchased and downloaded online from the Xilinx Silicon Xpresso Café at www.xilinx.com or from Xilinx distributors. A free trial version and more product information can be downloaded from the Xilinx IP-Center at www.xilinx.com/ipcenter. Simulink and MATLAB are available from The MathWorks today at www.mathworks.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.