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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
XILINX AND MERCURY COMPUTER SYSTEMS
DEMONSTRATE INTEROPERABLE SERIAL RAPIDIO SOLUTIONS ON AN ATCA
PLATFORM
Product Availability Drives Quick Adoption of
the Serial RapidIO Protocol into ATCA Backplanes
FRANKFURT, Germany, September 28, 2004 - At Euro Smart Network
Developer Forum, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) and Mercury Computer
Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY) today demonstrated the successful
interoperability between RapidIO solutions from Xilinx and Mercury
Computer Systems using Ensemble ATCA serial RapidIO development
platform. This industry-first demonstration will enable designers
to build next generation RapidIO based systems with confidence
using leading products available today, including the Xilinx
RapidIO LogiCORE IP Core and ATCA line card designed for the
Virtex-II Pro FPGA and Freescale's PowerQUICC III
communications processor.
"Interoperability testing and the availability of system level
platforms are essential elements in building a strong RapidIO
ecosystem," said Iain Scott, president of the RapidIO Trade
Association (a key sponsor of Euro SNDF). "In addition, designers
need a standards-based prototyping platform to accelerate the
development of enhanced control and data plane processing for the
next generation of imaging, wired and wireless communications and
applications requiring increased processing power with lower system
cost."
"The Ensemble platform was designed to enable Telecom OEMs to
evaluate RapidIO for cost reduction and time-to-market
acceleration," said Mark Skalabrin, vice president and general
manager, OEM Solutions Group, Mercury Computer Systems. "The ease
in which the Xilinx ATCA line card was implemented into this
platform is a testimony to the system-level design of the Ensemble
platform as well as the robustness of the Mercury and Xilinx
RapidIO IP and the RapidIO specification."
According to Mark Aaldering, vice president of the IP Solutions
and Embedded Processing Divisions at Xilinx, "The interoperability
demonstration of the Xilinx RapidIO solution in Mercury's Ensemble
ATCA environment with the industry leading PowerQUICC III
communications processor allows architects to jump start their
system design. The immediate availability of our ATCA design kit
with a Virtex-II Pro based line card, RapidIO reference designs,
test and demonstration programs, as well as schematic and board
layout can easily save six months to years in engineering efforts
over the lifetime of a product."
Drilling Down on the Demonstration
Featured during the keynote address of Freescale's Euro Smart
Network Developers Forum 2004 in Frankfurt, Germany, the backbone
of the demonstration highlighted Ensemble, a multipoint to
multipoint (full mesh) architecture. Also highlighted were two
RapidIO endpoints, including the Freescale PowerQUIIC III processor
and the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGA, incorporating two 1-lane Serial
RapidIO Endpoint LogiCOREs switched over RapidIO RapidIO packets
are generated from an application running on the PowerQUICC III
with a Parallel RapidIO port. The packets are translated from a
Parallel to Serial RapidIO to be sent over the ATCA backplane to
the Xilinx ATCA line card. The Virtex-II Pro consumes the packets
and implements a Serial RapidIO extender/repeater function and
transmits the packets to the PowerQUICC III to display status and
statistic information.
About Ensemble
Ensemble from Mercury Computer Systems is a serial RapidIO®
Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA®)
development system that leverages industry standards including the
high-bandwidth, scalable serial RapidIO switch fabric and
AdvancedTCA ("ATCA ") PICMG 3.5 spec - that defines RapidIO on ATCA
- to enable telecom equipment manufacturers to start their
next-generation infrastructure designs. The interoperability
between these products ensures high-speed telecommunication
designers of electrical components, protocol compliance between the
various solutions.
About the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture
The ATCA platform standard was developed through the PCI
Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group to address the requirements
of next-generation applications that could not be served by the
CompactPCI standard or proprietary solutions. The prime objectives
of the ATCA are to provide the broad benefits of a standardized,
yet scalable platform to addresses the key challenges of next
generation systems with sufficient flexibility to be used across a
broad class of applications without imposing constraints that might
impact product differentiation.
About Mercury Computer Systems
Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY) is the leading
provider of high-performance embedded, real-time digital signal and
image processing computer systems. Mercury's products play a
critical role in a wide range of applications, transforming sensor
data to information for analysis and interpretation. In military
reconnaissance and surveillance platforms the Company's systems
process real-time radar, sonar, and signals intelligence data.
Mercury's systems are also used in state-of-the-art medical
diagnostic imaging devices including MRI, CT, PET, and digital
X-ray, and in semiconductor imaging applications including
photomask generation and wafer inspection. Mercury provides
advanced 3D image processing and visualization software and
optimized systems to diverse end markets including life sciences,
geosciences, and simulation. The Company also develops radio
frequency (RF) products for enhanced communications capabilities in
military and commercial applications. Based in Chelmsford,
Massachusetts, Mercury serves customers in North America, Europe
and Asia through its direct sales force and a network of
subsidiaries and distributors. Visit Mercury on the web at www.mc.com.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic
solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.
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