Optos Uses Xilinx Design Services to Develop Revolutionary
Eye Care System on Virtex-II Pro Devices
System enabled by Virtex-II Pro FPGA - industry's only programmable platform including high-speed serial transceiver, DSP and embedded processors

SAN JOSE, Calif., February 17, 2004 – Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) today announced that Optos PLC (http://www.optos.com), a revolutionary eye care technology company, selected Xilinx Design Services (XDS) to assist in the development of its revolutionary Optomap Retinal Exam system. Xilinx® Virtex-II Pro™ FPGAs with integrated RocketIO™ technology are at the heart of the wide-field visual imaging system. The Optomap Retinal Exam, the world’s first ophthalmic device to produce a single high-resolution color image of the retina, is now a vital component in the early detection and management of eye disease, providing earlier detection of eye diseases such as diabetes, age related macular degeneration and glaucoma. The exam provides the optometrist with a view of up to 200 degrees (internal angle) of the retina in just 0.25 of a second – a field of vision significantly wider than previously available using a traditional ophthalmoscope.

Optos worked closely with Xilinx Design Services (XDS) to implement the System Control Processor (SCP), camera, DSP components, and PCI sections of the Panoramic System. “We could not have achieved our design goals without the help of Xilinx Design Services and high-performance Virtex-II Pro devices,” said David Cairns, technical director at Optos. “Their commitment to quality and high standards has eased our transition into production.”
“Xilinx Design Services offers unique skills and experience in system, logic and embedded software design to provide the ideal development partner. Leveraging these skill sets helped Optos to optimize the budget, schedule and performance requirements for this project,” said Dave Demarinis, director of Xilinx Design Services at Xilinx. “The broad adoption of FPGAs in a wide range of high performance, cost sensitive applications such as the Optos Panoramic System, demonstrates the increasing market demand for programmable devices that deliver ASIC-level functionality and performance.”

About the Design
The Xilinx Virtex-II Pro devices, with on-board RocketIO™ MGTs, are used to receive high-speed data from three peripheral boards, each transmitting data from a single MGT on the Virtex-II Pro device. The MGT data transfers are initiated by an external system triggered by the operator. This event is synchronized using interrupts to the SCP. The data from the three MGTs is formatted in the Virtex-II Pro device and used to form a larger data packet, which is then stored in DDR SDRAM for transmission over PCI.

About the Optomap Retinal Exam
The revolutionary system uses low powered laser beams which are scanned in two dimensions over the entire retina. Light reflected from the retina is detected and transformed into a digital image which appears, almost immediately, on the screen of a conventional monitor. The image can be separated to reveal different levels of the retina – the choroid and sensory retina views and can be used to facilitate closer inspection of suspicious lesions. The advantages of these digital images include objective documentation, cost-effectiveness, easy storage, serial comparisons and remote analysis.

About Xilinx Virtex-II Pro Platform FPGAs
Xilinx Virtex-II Pro and Virtex-II Pro X devices are the world's first and only FPGAs to offer integrated PowerPC embedded technology and the first to offer high-speed serial solutions supporting any speed between 622 Mbps to 10.3125 Gbps. These multiple PowerPC CPUs, multi-gigabit serial transceivers, and high-speed signal processing blocks are offered at no additional charge, providing unequaled capability and value for today's system design requirements.

About Xilinx Design Services
Xilinx Design Services augments customer design teams with industry experts in FPGA design techniques and programmable logic solutions such as systems architecture consulting, hardware engineering, and embedded software design. Led by professionals with proven project management skills, the XDS team of FPGA hardware engineers, embedded software designers, product specialists, and system architects help customers get their products to market faster, more cost-effectively, and with optimal performance. More information about Xilinx Design Services is available at www.support.xilinx.com/xds.

About Xilinx
Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) is the worldwide leader of programmable logic solutions. Additional information about Xilinx is available at www.xilinx.com.

About Optos
Optos PLC develops ophthalmic imaging products, which help improve image capture and analysis capability for the early detection and prevention of eye disease. Additional information about Optos is available at www.optos.com.

# 0420