Avnet launches SpeedWay Design Workshops focused on Nano-ITX/Spartan-6 FPGA development kit

PHOENIX, USA: Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas, a business region of Avnet Inc., announced the launch of a new series of SpeedWay Design Workshops encompassing the design and development flows for the Nano-ITX/Spartan-6 FPGA Development Kit. This seminar series will take place in 11 cities across North America starting in April 2011 and cost $95.00 to attend.

Focusing on the recently released Nano-ITX/Spartan-6 FPGA Development Kit, Avnet’s daylong workshop features hands-on labs that teach designers how to create and implement designs that incorporate the latest Intel Atom processor. Designers will develop images based on the Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7 software platform and tools, and learn how to configure the system peripheral drivers. Windows Embedded Standard 7 delivers the power, familiarity and reliability of the Windows 7 operating system in a highly customizable and componentized form.

“Windows Embedded has an active global partner ecosystem, with our partners there every step of the way, to support developers and OEMs in getting high performance devices to market faster,” said Valerie Olague, group regional marketing manager for Windows Embedded, Microsoft. “We are excited to collaborate with Avnet Electronics Marketing to deliver the latest Windows Embedded Standard 7 technology innovations to drive rich, immersive user experiences.”

SpeedWay attendees will also learn how to implement different interface options with the Xilinx Spartan-6 PCI Express (PCIe) card. Engineers will gain a greater understanding of the benefits gained from using an FPGA-based solution for peripheral expansion, and receive a detailed technical overview for each of the reference design components, including Intel Atom E640 processor, the Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA PCIe card, and the Emerson Network Power Nano-ITX motherboard.

“The Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA PCIe card provides a powerful and flexible peripheral expansion capability to complement the Intel Atom processor,” said Raj Patel, director of platform marketing, Xilinx. “Avnet’s SpeedWay Design Workshops help engineers become more productive in a minimum amount of time with this exciting new development platform.”

“These workshops will give design engineers invaluable practical time with the latest innovative products and the experts that can help them to develop their solutions more easily and get to market faster,” said Paul Virgo, director of marketing, Embedded Computing, Emerson Network Power. “We are excited to have the opportunity to showcase our new Nano-ITX embedded motherboard based on the latest Intel Atom E640 processor at these events. Our long history of partnering with leaders such as Intel, Microsoft, Xilinx and Avnet to streamline time-to-market shows a commitment to reducing time-to-revenue for our customers.”

“The embedded engineering community can truly benefit from the technology available from the Nano-ITX/Spartan-6 FPGA Development Kit,” said Jim Beneke, vice president of global technical marketing at Avnet Electronics Marketing. “This workshop series was developed to be a quick and comprehensive tutorial, giving engineers the inside track on how to effectively implement this flexible platform in a multitude of applications.”