Tabula launches ABAX family of 3-D PLDs delivering unprecedented capabilities at volume price points

SANTA CLARA, USA: Tabula Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company that has developed the Spacetime 3-D architecture, has launched the ABAX family of 3-D Programmable Logic Devices (3PLD).

Based on the revolutionary Spacetime architecture that delivers the benefits of 3-D by using time as a third dimension, ABAX enables high-performance, compute-intensive applications on a programmable platform at volume price points.

Providing programmability in applications historically served only by ASICs or ASSPs, ABAX represents a new category of programmable logic device. ABAX resets the bar for the capability and density of programmable logic, memory and signal processing while maintaining a familiar design flow. Designed for a wide range of applications, ABAX devices will initially target the telecom, enterprise, and wireless infrastructure markets.

“For decades, the Holy Grail for electronic system manufacturers has been a logic platform that combines programmability and flexibility with large capacity and cost effectiveness. Semico believes that the unique approach to how Tabula accomplishes this is truly innovative and is something the entire semiconductor industry should take note of,” said Richard Wawrzyniak, Sr. Market Analyst at Semico Research Corp.

“Tabula’s benchmark results for ABAX show significant advantages in both density and capability for logic, memory and signal processing when compared with 40 nm FPGAs, enabling ABAX devices to offer programmability both in traditional FPGA applications and beyond.”

Deployed on TSMC’s 40 nm process, ABAX devices integrate a rich mixture of fully configurable, high-performance I/Os, including 920 general-purpose parallel I/Os, and 48 6.5Gbps serial transceivers. To improve time to market and productivity, the ABAX family’s design flow closely resembles those for FPGAs and ASICs, using synthesis, placement, and routing to compile designs from RTL into silicon. In addition, ABAX devices support a broad portfolio of soft IP cores, including DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers, PCI Express, Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, soft CPUs, sRIO, CPRI, and OBSAI.

“We are proud to announce our 40 nm ABAX family of Spacetime 3PLD devices,” said Dennis Segers, Tabula's CEO. “We believe the combination of our breakthrough Spacetime architecture, our commitment to advanced process technology nodes, and our focus on standard design flows set Tabula and ABAX apart in the market. With the support of a seasoned executive staff, a world-class engineering team, and a premier investor group, we look forward to demonstrating to customers the value ABAX can bring to their applications.”

The initial ABAX products to be released by Tabula will be the A1EC02, A1EC03, A1EC04, and the A1EC06. ABAX A1EC04 samples will be available in Q3 2010, and will go into mass production in Q4 2010. Pricing in 2010 for the A1EC04 is $150 for orders of 2,000 units