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High bandwidth support from fpgas
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23/09/2008
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Xilinx has expanded its Virtex-5 range of fpgas by adding the Virtex-5 TXT, developed specifically to support high bandwidth communications. The reason, says Jean Louis Brelet, Xilinx’ senior marketing manager for silicon definition, is rapid growth in demand for communications bandwidth, driven mainly by VoIP and IP television.
According to Brelet, whilst network providers want to develop solutions, the technology is not yet available in any meaningful fashion. “ASSPs are inflexible or don’t exist,” he claimed, “whilst the asic route is is expensive and risky, particularly as the IEEE is still working on ratifying the standard.”
The Virtex-5 TXT has developed specifically to support high bandwidth communications. With 48 6.5Gbit/s GTX transceivers, the TXT has been optimised for 100Gbit Ethernet applications. According to Brelet, the device offers flexibility as standards change and addresses concerns over power consumption. “We’re providing the right mix of logic, dsp and other functions with up to 48 transceivers,” he claimed.
As an illustration of just how quickly the market has developed, the Virtex-5 TXT was not on the road map when the family was launched two years ago. “Two years ago,” Brelet noted, “the 100G market was at the very beginning. But our ability to create new devices quickly is benefiting customers.”
Two devices will be available. The TXT150T has 150k logic gates and 40 transceivers, whilst the TXT240T has 240k logic gates and 48 transceivers. Manufactured on UMC’s 65nm process, the parts will sample at the end of the year and move into production in February 2009.
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Author
Graham Pitcher
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