New Xilinx Virtex-6 and Spartan-6 FPGA connectivity development kits include Northwest Logic DMA engine IP

BANGALORE, INDIA: Xilinx Inc. today announced the availability of the new Virtex-6 and Spartan-6 FPGA Connectivity Development Kits that provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use, and hardware validated development environment.

A key component of the new kits is the Connectivity Targeted Reference Designs that contain Northwest Logic’sÒ high-performance, scatter-gather DMA engine IP.

The DMA engine IP, in combination with the other elements of the kits, provides high-bandwidth operation for a wide variety of PCI Express-based applications enabling customers to quickly develop and deploy designs for a broad range of high-speed connectivity applications.

The Xilinx Connectivity Kits (www.xilinx.com/connectivity) minimize overall development time by providing a fully integrated development environment complete with FPGA boards, cables, documentation, design tools, and IP (intellectual property) cores integrated into Targeted Reference Designs.

As a key member of the Xilinx Alliance Program (www.xilinx.com/alliance), Northwest Logic collaborated with Xilinx from the initial definition through final release of the connectivity Targeted Reference Designs, to ensure they provide high-bandwidth operation under real system conditions. This performance can be validated by customers using the performance monitor interface built into the Targeted Reference Design.

The Northwest Logic DMA Back-End Core provides a complete, high-performance DMA engine optimized to work with Xilinx integrated PCI Express Endpoint Block plus core and external memory interface soft IP in Virtex-6 FPGAs and hard memory interface IP available in Spartan-6 FPGAs. The Northwest Logic DMA engine includes target and register interfaces and can automatically fetch DMA descriptors or use DMA descriptors provided locally.

“Starting with a pre-validated Target Reference Design will enable our customers to meet the short design cycles time required in today’s competitive environment,” said Xilinx Sr. Director of Platform, Solutions and Services Marketing Tim Erjavec.

“Because system verification and testing takes up the largest portion of FPGA design time, we’ve worked closely with Northwest Logic to ensure that users of the Connectivity Development Kits have a highly productive experience right out of the box using a fully integrated reference design.”

The collaboration between Xilinx and Northwest Logic is one example of the broad ecosystem Xilinx is building to bring industry-leading IP components to its customers as part of fully integrated and tested Xilinx Targeted Reference Designs.

“By collaborating with Xilinx from the very start of the project we’ve ensured the Virtex-6 and Spartan-6 FPGA Connectivity Development kits will deliver optimal DMA-based performance in a wide variety of PCI Express applications,” said Northwest Logic President Brian Daellenbach. “At the same time we’ve minimized the system development effort required so that our mutual customers can quickly develop and deploy their unique designs.”

The Xilinx Connectivity Targeted Design Platforms provide a starting point for a broad variety off SoC (system-on-chip) applications including:
* Wired communications routers and switchers.
* Wireless radio head and Baseband processing.
* Audio Video Broadcast control switchers and routers.
* Automotive driver assistance control applications.
* Automotive infotainment applications.
* Consumer set-top boxes.

The Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA Connectivity Kit is complete and easy-to-use, enabling designs with industry-standard high-speed serial protocols including PCI Express (version 1.1), Ethernet (GMII, SFP), and DDR3 SDRAM (using built-in hard memory controller) as well as enabling designs using other serial standards and proprietary implementations up to 3.125Gbps and multiple parallel protocols including 3.3V I/O standards.

Similarly, the Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA Connectivity Development Kit enables advanced connectivity designs with PCI Express 1.1/2.0, Ethernet (GMII, SFP, XAUI), SATA, and other proprietary high-speed serial protocols with line rates up to 6.5Gbps, as well as multiple parallel standards running at ~ 1.4Gbps with SelectIO technology.

The Spartan-6 FPGA Connectivity kit is available for order today including a full version the Northwest Logic DMA Back-End Core for $2,495. The Virtex-6 FPGA Connectivity kit will be available in January and includes an evaluation version of the Northwest Logic DMA Back-End Core for $2,995.