Wind River and Xilinx to Create System Software Basis for Platform FPGA Initiative

Business Wire, Nov 7, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

ALAMEDA, Calif. & SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2000

Companies Establish Leadership Direction by Integrating

the Best of Programmable Hardware and Software

Wind River Systems (NASDAQ: WIND), a leading provider of software and services for smart devices in the Internet age, and Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), the world's leading supplier of programmable logic devices, announced today that they would collaborate to deliver a unified system software/hardware solution for the Xilinx Platform FPGA initiative (see separate Xilinx press release issued today). This solution would allow designers and systems architects to create flexible, scalable, and upgradable embedded applications for telecom, datacom, and consumer markets. Bringing together a wide range of core competencies from these companies will result in a design solution from concept to hardware.

"As leaders in our respective industries, we are defining a new era of design for embedded systems. Our efforts with Wind River are critical to the success of our Platform FPGA initiative," said Wim Roelandts, CEO and president of Xilinx. "Our customers are not only chip level designers, but system architects as well. Therefore, they require a complete solution that includes system development tools and real time operating systems."

The two companies have agreed to collaborate in the following target areas:

-- Integration of FPGA debuging tools with Wind River's Tornado(R) embedded development tools for Virtex-II FPGAs with embedded PowerPC 405

-- Development of a hardware reference platform featuring Xilinx FPGA devices

-- Integration of FPGA design tools with Wind River embedded development tools

-- Runtime support for in-field reprogramming of FPGA devices (reference earlier press release regarding the PAVE API)

-- Hardware-Software co-design

The collaboration will enable a convergence of product and technology roadmaps between these two market leaders.

"By working with the Xilinx Platform FPGA initiative, we see many areas to positively impact our customer's time to market and, ultimately, their product profitability," says Jerry Fiddler, chairman and co-founder of Wind River. "Combining our advanced system tools and runtime technology with Xilinx configurable hardware and software will change how our customers will conceive and create their designs."

Industry Ready for Platform FPGAs

Today's digital designers need highly-optimized upgradable ICs without the extreme up front cost and risk of a custom circuit. The Platform FPGA initiative describes a setting in which the embedded software designer has earlier access to the target hardware than exists today. Early target hardware combined with the Wind River development tools, enables the designer to develop and optimize the technology in parallel with the hardware, which improves time to market with increased performance, functionality and flexibility.

Integration of the Wind River embedded debug capabilities with the full on-chip debug of the Xilinx FPGAs give the embedded developers visibility into the system to enable rapid problem resolution. The blending of hardware, firmware, application software and real-time operating systems into a platform-based approach removes many of the barriers that exist in the embedded world today.

About Wind River Systems

Wind River is a worldwide leader in embedded software. Wind River provides software development tools, real-time operating systems, and advanced connectivity for use in products throughout the Internet, telecommunications and data communications, digital imaging, digital consumer electronics, networking, medical, computer peripherals, automotive, industrial automation and control, and aerospace/defense markets. Wind River is how smart things think. Founded in 1983, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations in sixteen countries worldwide.

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the leading innovator of complete programmable logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined system functions delivered as cores, and unparalleled field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and fulfills more than half of the world demand for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, high-reliability/military, and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at www.xilinx.com.

Note to Editors: Wind River Systems, the Wind River Systems logo, VxWorks and Tornado are registered trademarks of Wind River Systems, Inc. All other registered trademarks or trademarks are property of their respective owners.