Altera rolls PCI-X core; Xilinx adds to Virtex line

Altera rolls PCI-X core; Xilinx adds to Virtex line
By Michael Santarini, EE Times
January 10, 2000 (11:41 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000110S0011

Altera Corp. has introduced its own PCI-X core specifically targeted for programmable-logic devices.

According to the company, the new the PCI-X-based technology is a compatible extension of the existing Peripheral Component Interconnect bus. The PCI-X technology runs at speeds up to 133 MHz, providing transfer rates above 1 Gbyte per second, up to four times the speed of the most common PCI bus technology.

The design of next-generation high-bandwidth systems is currently limited by interface throughput, which PCI-X can address, said Altera (San Jose, Calif.).

According to Altera, the PCI-X technology targets complex system architectures such as switched-fabric I/O systems, Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, cluster interconnects and Internet Protocol telephony.

The Altera PCI-X core is optimized for the Altera ApexTM and Flex device families and is shipping now to select customers. The $25,000 price tag includes compreh ensive PCI-X design documentation. For more information, visit www.altera.com.

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Xilinx Inc. (San Jose) has announced the availability of more than 50 LogiCore and AllianceCore products and reference designs for its Virtex-E and Virtex FPGA families from the Xilinx IP Center.

The new intellectual property includes the Real-PCI core and general-purpose LogiCore products. These general-purpose cores are loadable directly into the Xilinx Core Generator and are implemented via Xilinx's Smart-IP technology.

The Real-PCI core includes Internet-accessible PCI cores for 64/66 PCI, 64/33 PCI and 32/33 PCI using Virtex-E, Virtex and Spartan field-programmable gate arrays. The products are available for downloading from the Xilinx IP Center, at www.Xilinx.com.