New 'XLerated Solutions' Seminars from Avnet Electronics Marketing Showcase the Latest Innovations from Xilinx

Business Wire, Feb 22, 2005

PHOENIX -- Topics Provide a Deep Understanding of the Latest Virtex(TM), Spartan(TM) and Design Tools from the Leading Supplier of FPGAs

Designers interested in learning about the most innovative FPGA architectures and system-level design tools on the market today can get a detailed overview by attending one of Avnet Electronics Marketing's XLerated Solutions(TM) seminars. Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT), is offering these seminars across North America beginning in March 2005.

The market for FPGAs has experienced steady growth over the past three years as FPGAs enjoy unparalleled acceptance by electronic designers in a vast cross section of end markets. This growth is being fueled by lower price points, powerful new features and architectures, and ongoing enhancements to the design tools used to integrate programmable logic into electronic products.

This dynamic, day-long event from Avnet will showcase the newest releases of Xilinx architectures and design tools. The seminar will deliver key insights for how to employ Xilinx FPGA technologies in the areas of programmable logic, connectivity, embedded processing and design tools. It will include presentations, case studies and live demonstrations to help designers assess how these pioneering offerings can be leveraged in their companies' product plans.

"Our customers are always looking for the latest innovations in technology to differentiate their products," stated Jim Schaeffer, senior vice president of Avnet Design Services. "This seminar will enable them to get the inside track on the technologies available which will distinguish their systems from the competition."

"The Xilinx portfolio delivers powerful, landmark solutions to designers that wish to deploy robust, award-winning technologies in their products," commented David Stieg, senior director of distribution marketing for Xilinx. "We are pleased that Avnet is offering this seminar series -- it will provide engineers with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the details of an extensive spectrum of Xilinx solutions."

The seminars, which are developed and presented by Avnet's factory-trained and certified Field Application Engineers, will explore the following topics:

--The Virtex-4 FX family of FPGAs, which deliver breakthrough performance at the lowest cost and offer a compelling alternative to ASICs and ASSPs.

--The Spartan-3 FPGA family, which delivers an unmatched combination of low-cost and full-feature capability which enable it to implement complete system functions in the most cost-efficient manner.

--Detailed coverage of the embedding processing, connectivity and advanced programmable logic capabilities of these two families using the Integrated Software Environment (ISE) and Embedded Development Kit (EDK).

Attendees will qualify for reduced pricing for a carefully selected collection of products and services designed to help a company reduce its time-to-adoption for these powerful solutions. This includes special bundles of training classes, software tools, development hardware and the Embedded Systems Starter Kit. The Embedded Systems Starter Kit includes a Virtex-4 FX12 Evaluation Kit, a JTAG parallel cable 3, ISE BaseX software and an evaluation version of the Embedded Development Kit from Xilinx. In addition, attendees at each location will be entered into a drawing for a free evaluation kit (choice of Virtex- or Spartan-based) from Avnet Design Services.

Customers can register today for the seminar series, which kicks off in March. To register for the seminar and for complete details, visit www.em.avnet.com/xleratedsolutions.> About Avnet Electronics Marketing

Avnet Electronics Marketing is the largest operating group of Phoenix-based Avnet Inc., a Fortune 500 company with fiscal 2004 sales of more than $10 billion, and one of the world's largest technology marketing, distribution and services companies. Avnet Electronics Marketing, Americas (EMA) serves electronic original equipment manufacturers (EOEMs) and electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers in North America and Brazil, distributing electronic components from leading manufacturers and providing associated services. The company's Web site is located at www.em.avnet.com.