| Xilinx | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: XLNX) |
| Founded | 1984, public since 1990 |
| Headquarters | San Jose, CA |
| Key people | Moshe Gavrielov, Wim Roelandts |
| Industry | Integrated Circuits |
| Products | FPGAs, CPLDs |
| Revenue | $1. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" Microchipsjpg|right|thumb|200px|Microchips ( EPROM memory with a transparent window showing the integrated circuit inside In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need FPGAs should not be confused with the Flip-chip pin grid array, a form of integrated circuit packaging A complex programmable logic device (CPLD is a Programmable logic device with complexity between that of PALs and FPGAs and architectural features of both In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 842 billion (2007) |
| Employees | 3,353 |
| Website | www.xilinx.com |
Xilinx, Inc. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages (NASDAQ: XLNX) is the world's largest developer and fabless manufacturer of a class of reconfigurable hardware chips known as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of Hardware devices implemented on Semiconductor Microchipsjpg|right|thumb|200px|Microchips ( EPROM memory with a transparent window showing the integrated circuit inside FPGAs should not be confused with the Flip-chip pin grid array, a form of integrated circuit packaging It was founded by Ross Freeman (FPGA inventor), Bernie Vonderschmitt (fabless pioneer), and Jim Barnett in 1984 and was based in Silicon Valley. Ross Freeman was the inventor of the Field Programmable Gate Array ( FPGA) and along with Bernie Vonderschmitt, co-founded Xilinx, the leading FPGA developer Bernard V Vonderschmitt ( October 14, 1923 – June 9, 2004) was an electrical engineer most noted as a co-founder of leading FPGA Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley. Today, their HQ resides in San Jose, California (U.S.); the European HQ is based in Dublin (Ireland) and the Asia Pacific/Japan HQ is based in Singapore. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Singapore It also has offices in Austin, Texas; Longmont, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA); Toronto (Canada); Bangalore and Hyderabad (India); and Penicuik, (Scotland). Longmont is a Home Rule Municipality in Boulder and Weld counties in the U Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Bangalore ( officially Bengaluru ( Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Penicuik is a burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain.
Contents |
Xilinx in Fortune - 100 Best Companies to Work For
Xilinx joined the ranks of the "100 Best…" in 2001 as number 14, rose to number six in 2002 and to fourth place in 2003. At fourth place, Xilinx became the top publicly traded company on the list (the first three were private companies), the top high-tech company and the highest ranked company in the Western states
Technologies
Xilinx is a developer of FPGA and CPLD devices that are used in numerous applications within telecommunications, automotive, consumer, defense, and other fields. FPGAs should not be confused with the Flip-chip pin grid array, a form of integrated circuit packaging A complex programmable logic device (CPLD is a Programmable logic device with complexity between that of PALs and FPGAs and architectural features of both Xilinx offers device families for glue logic (CoolRunner, CoolRunner II), low-cost (Spartan), and high-end (Virtex) applications in addition to supporting devices such as PROMs. In Electronics, glue logic is the custom Electronic circuitry needed to achieve compatible interfaces between two (or more different off-the-shelf Integrated The Spartan series of low cost Field-programmable gate arrays from Xilinx Inc A programmable read-only memory ( PROM) or field programmable read-only memory ( FPROM) is a form of digital memory where the setting of each bit is
The Virtex-II Pro, Virtex-4, and Virtex-5 FPGA families are of particular interest to system-on-a-chip (SoC) designers because they can include up to two embedded IBM PowerPC cores. System-on-a-chip or system on chip ( SoC or SOC) refers to integrating all components of a Computer or other electronic System International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM [1][2] These designs are capable of running a regular embedded OS (such as Linux or vxWorks) and interfacing with custom logic implemented in the surrounding fabric. Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks VxWorks is a real-time Operating system made and sold by Wind River Systems of Alameda, California, USA
Xilinx develops IP cores, intended to reduce application design time. In Electronic design a Semiconductor intellectual property core, IP block, IP core, or logic core is a reusable unit of logic cell These cores range from simple functions (such as BCD encoders, counters, etc. In Computing and electronic systems binary-coded decimal ( BCD) is an encoding for decimal numbers in which each digit is represented by its own binary ) to complex systems (such as multi-gigabit networking cores, the Microblaze soft microprocessor, and the compact Picoblaze microcontroller). A gigabit is a unit of information or computer storage abbreviated Gbit (or Gb) The MicroBlaze is a soft processor core designed for Xilinx FPGAs from Xilinx. A soft microprocessor (also called softcore microprocessor or a soft processor) is a Microprocessor core that can be wholly implemented using Logic synthesis PicoBlaze is the designation of a series of three free soft processor cores from Xilinx for use in their FPGA and CPLD products In addition, Xilinx Design Services (XDS) can create custom cores for a fee.
Xilinx offers electronic design automation (EDA) tools for use with its devices. Electronic design automation ( EDA) is the category of tools for designing and producing electronic systems ranging from Its central product family is ISE, which offers a complete EDA flow: synthesis from Verilog or VHDL, place-and-route (PAR), and creation of the bit files that are used to configure the chip. In the Semiconductor and electronic design industry Verilog is a Hardware description language (HDL used to model electronic systems. Xilinx's Embedded Developer's Kit (EDK) supports the embedded PowerPC 405 core (found in the Virtex-II Pro and some Virtex-4 and -5 chips), and the Microblaze. Xilinx's System Generator for DSP simulates and implements high-performance DSP designs on Xilinx's FPGAs. A digital signal processor ( DSP or DSP micro) is a specialized Microprocessor designed specifically for Digital signal processing, generally A freeware version of their EDA software called 'ISE Webpack' is available for use with some of their non high performance chips. Freeware is computer Software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee They are the only (as of 2007) FPGA vendor to distribute a native Linux freeware synthesis toolchain. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks
Current Family Lines
Xilinx has two main FPGA families: the high performance Virtex series and the low cost Spartan series. FPGAs should not be confused with the Flip-chip pin grid array, a form of integrated circuit packaging They also manufacture two CPLD lines, the CoolRunner and the 9500 series. A complex programmable logic device (CPLD is a Programmable logic device with complexity between that of PALs and FPGAs and architectural features of both Each model series has been released in multiple generations since their launch.
Spartan series
The Spartan series are low cost parts, roughly parallel to the Virtex 2 series. They are slower than the corresponding Virtex parts, and neither embedded PowerPC cores nor SerDes hardware are available.
| Spartan 3 generation (90nm) | Logic cells | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Spartan-3 | 1700 to 75 000 | For high density and high pin-count applications |
| Spartan-3A | 1500 to 25 000 | I/O optimized |
| Spartan-3AN | 1500 to 25 000 | Non volatile memory packaged with a 3A |
| Spartan-3E | 2 000 to 33 000 | Logic optimized |
| Spartan-3A DSP | 37 000 to 54 000 | DSP optimized |
Virtex series
The Virtex series has in addition to the normal FPGA logic fabric embedded fixed function hardware for commonly used functions such as multipliers, memories, serial transceivers and microprocessor cores. The number of multipliers range from a few tens to several hundreds, depending on the device. Likewise, the amount of block ram ranges from a few hundred kilobits to tens of megabits. While all models include some block ram and multipliers, embedded PowerPC cores and SerDes hardware are only available on select models. A Serializer/Deserializer ( SerDes pronounced sir-dees is a pair of functional blocks commonly used in high speed communications
Starting with the Virtex-4, Xilinx transitioned to having multiple versions of their product with different features, optimized for different purposes. Traditionally the only difference between the models within a series has been size and thus price.
| Virtex-4 models | Logic cells | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Virtex-4 LX | 14 000 to 200 000 | Optimized for logic, up to 200 000 logic cells. |
| Virtex-4 FX | 12 000 to 140 000 | Includes embedded PowerPC cores on the die, and serial connectivity. PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM |
| Virtex-4 SX | 23 000 to 55 000 | Optimized for DSP and memory-intensive applications |
The Virtex-4 series was introduced in 2004 and manufactured on a 1. 2V, 90nm, triple-oxide process technology.
| Virtex-5 models | Logic cells | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Virtex-5 LX | 30 000 to 330 000 | Optimized for logic, up to 50% larger than the previous generation Virtex-4. |
| Virtex-5 LXT | 30 000 to 330 000 | A variant of the LX which also adds SerDes transceivers for serial connectivity |
| Virtex-5 SXT | 35 000 to 100 000 | Optimized for DSP and memory-intensive applications with serial connectivity |
| Virtex-5 FXT | 35 000 to 100 000 | Includes embedded PowerPC cores on the die, and high-speed serial connectivity. A Serializer/Deserializer ( SerDes pronounced sir-dees is a pair of functional blocks commonly used in high speed communications PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM |
The Virtex-5 series was introduced in 2006. With it, Xilinx moved from their traditional 4-input LUT design to 6-input LUTs. In Computer science, a lookup table is a Data structure, usually an Array or Associative array, often used to replace a runtime computation with It is a 65nm design fabricated in 1. 0V, triple-oxide process technology.
Older generation devices, such as the Virtex, Virtex-II, and Virtex-II Pro, are also still available, although their functionality is largely superseded by the Virtex-4 and -5.
Competition
Competitors to Xilinx include Altera, Lattice Semiconductor, Actel and QuickLogic. Altera Corporation ( is one of the two major manufacturer of high-end PLDs ( Programmable logic devices, along with Xilinx. Lattice Semiconductor Corporation ( is a United States based manufacturer of high-performance Programmable logic devices ( FPGAs, CPLDs & SPLDs Actel Corporation ( is a manufacturer of single-chip FPGA solutions QuickLogic Corporation ( is a manufacturer of Programmable logic devices Until recently they were a supplier of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays based on
Origin of company name
Having tried to register a number of company names which were more conventional and had them rejected because they were already taken, the founders decided to deliberately create an unusual name in order to ensure the name was accepted. Xilinx founder Bill Carter says that the name Xilinx was chosen because "The 'X's' at each end represent programmable logic blocks. The "linx" represents programmable links that connect the logic blocks together". [3]
References
External links
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