New kit combines familiar embedded design methodologies with innovative HW-SW design tools for Virtex-II Pro PowerPC and MicroBlaze embedded processors

SAN JOSE, Calif., October 28, 2002 - Xilinx, Inc., today announced its new Embedded Development Kit (EDK) - an all encompassing suite of design tools accelerating the design of highly optimized programmable systems. EDK provides an easy-to-learn entry point for both embedded software and hardware designers who want to design with the PowerPC processors embedded into the Xilinx flagship Virtex-II Pro FPGAs or the MicroBlaze 32-bit soft processor core in Xilinx Virtex and Spartan Series devices. With the new tools, designers can significantly reduce system costs and/or increase performance by optimizing software and hardware on the same programmable platform. For more information about the tools, visit www.xilinx.com/edk.

EDK is a series of software products developed to extend the Xilinx Integrated Software Environment (ISE) into the realm of system level design. In August, when the company introduced its latest ISE 5.1 software, Xilinx announced plans to deliver solutions such as EDK to address the needs of embedded software designers. Today in related news, Xilinx also announced new co-design technology for software and hardware engineers involved in the common design of embedded programmable systems.

"In this new era of systems design, system cost, integration and flexibility, along with performance and time-to-market are the primary criteria in choosing a system solution," said Rich Sevcik, senior vice president of FPGA Products at Xilinx. "Xilinx is enabling this new era with its Virtex-II Pro platform FPGAs, intellectual property cores, and with the delivery of a complete, integrated design flow for embedded systems development."

EDK interfaces industry standard tools from embedded design leaders such as Wind River Systems with mature FPGA logic design tools and innovative embedded design tools. The kit includes tools to generate and customize Xilinx's library of intellectual property bus infrastructure and peripheral cores that are used as part of the processor system, including all the necessary device drivers, standard C libraries, and Board Support Package for stand alone and RTOS applications. Also included with the kit is a MicroBlaze processor - the industries fastest and smallest 32-bit RISC soft core. EDK automatically generates the hardware, software and simulation components based upon user specifications.

The kit includes the Xilinx Platform Studio which is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) used to define the embedded system. XPS uses a unique format called the Xilinx Platform Specification Format (PSF) to describe the custom hardware and software platforms. The Xilinx PSF supports customer and third-party hardware and software tools and design modules. The kit also includes Xilinx versions of the open source GNU compiler/debugger tool chains for the processors and support for the optional Diab XE C/C++ PowerPC405 OEM compiler from Wind River Systems.

Xilinx, like the other FPGA manufacturers that have combined embedded processor with programmable logic fabrics, is finding that it has to deal with a new type of customer and a new time frame for the move from design to production. The customer interface for the company's Virtex-II Pro devices is now the system and/or software designer - engineers that usually have little, if any, experience with FPGA design methods and techniques. It has also found that the design cycles are much longer because of the increased complexity.

The company describes its Embedded Development Kit (EDK) as an encompassing design environment for its Virtex-II embedded PowerPCs and MicroBlaze, which is Xilinx's soft PC core that can be implemented in most of its FPGAs. The tool will help the designer create the required bus and peripherals and provides links to integrate conventional SW and FPGA tools into a single design environment.

EDK includes Xilinx Platform Studio, a beta version of System Generator Pro, a board support package, a GNU compiler and debugger, support for simulation and debugging tools. Also included is the MicroBlaze soft core, access to more than 60 parameterizable peripheral cores (40 of which are free with EDK), and 60-day evaluation versions of Wind River Systems and ISE FPGA design tools.

Xilinx choose not to embed any CoreConnect bus elements or processor peripherals with the PowerPC cores in Virtex-II Pro. As a result, the designer must construct these elements from the soft cores in EDK. While this approach offers the utmost in flexibility, it uses costly programmable logic to create common functions that other suppliers have chosen to embed.

Xilinx calls EDK the foundation of its new C-based design methodology for hardware/software co-design. The company is now gathering alpha sites for this software-centric design system that it expects to release in mid-2003. It describes the co-design system as an integrated environment that aids the designers in defining and analyzing the processing tasks that are defined in ANSI C (with tags). Xilinx also plans on producing a SystemC version of the co-design system.