Xcell Journal: The authoritative journal for programmable ... - Xilinx

EDITOR IN CHIEF Carlis Collins
editor@xilinx.com
408-879-4519
MANAGING EDITOR Forrest Couch
forrest.couch@xilinx.com
408-879-5270
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Charmaine Cooper Hussain
XCELL ONLINE EDITOR Tom Pyles
tom.pyles@xilinx.com
720-652-3883
ADVERTISING SALES Dan Teie
1-800-493-5551
ART DIRECTOR Scott Blair
Xilinx, Inc.
2100 Logic Drive
San Jose, CA 95124-3400
Phone: 408-559-7778
FAX: 408-879-4780
© 2004 Xilinx, Inc. All rights reserved. XILINX,
the Xilinx Logo, and otherdesignated brands included
herein are trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. PowerPC is a trademark
of IBM, Inc. All other trademarks are the propert y
of their respective owners.
The articles, information, and other materials included in
this issue are provided solely for the convenience of our
readers. Xilinx makes no warranties, express, implied,
statutory, or otherwise, and accepts no liability with respect
to any such articles, information, or other materials or
their use, and any use thereof is solely at the risk of the
user. Any person or entity using such information in any
way releases and waives any claim it might have against
Xilinx for any loss, damage, or expense caused thereby.
L E T T E R F R O M T H E E D I T O R
And the Number Please...
What does the number 6,759,852 represent? Well, I guess it could represent a lot of different
things. For example, it could be the current population of Chennai, India. It could be the phone
number of Training Academy Ireland (they’re nice folks, but please don’t call them to verify). Or it
could be the student ID number of a computer science major attending the University of
Manitoba, Canada.
Had you chosen any one of these you would have been correct, but you would not have guessed
the answer I was looking for.
On July 6, 2004, Xilinx ® reached the 1,000th patent landmark. The patent, “VDD Detection Path
in Power-Up Circuit,” was U.S. Patent number 6,759,852. (I can’t believe you didn’t guess this.)
It was issued to Maheen A. Samad in our General Products Division, Engineering department.
So what’s the big deal, you might ask? Although our corporate pride may runneth over, our patent
count doesn’t hold a candle to some corporate giants. That may be true, but Xilinx was founded
with innovation at its core, beginning with Ross Freeman’s invention of the FPGA and continuing
with innovative practices and ideas, many of which are commemorated in the patent hallway at our
corporate headquarters.
Using our R&D dollars as a metric to measure our efficiency in converting innovation into patents,
Xilinx – as a high-tech company – ranks second only to IBM. Xilinx also ranks 131st in the
number of patents held, making it one of the most innovative companies worldwide.
This milestone – while not hugely significant in terms of the raw number – is more about
celebrating the continued innovation from Xilinx, both in the form of technology patents as well
as business acumen.
This issue of the Xcell Journal features articles in two key technology areas: digital signal
processing (DSP) and embedded processors. This issue also includes an article on the new Virtex-4
family of FPGAs, which offers three platforms optimized for logic, DSP, and embedded processor
applications. And speaking of innovation, the Virtex-4 family includes more than 120 new (and,
of course, patented) features, many of which are specific to supporting high-performance signal
processing and embedded processors.
With the launch of the Virtex-4 multi-platform FPGA family, the Xilinx vision expands to encompass
programmable systems, which include logic, embedded processing, and very high-performance digital
signal processing. As illustrated in the many articles in this issue, programmable technologies provide
customers further flexibility and performance benefits to inspire innovation.
Forrest Couch
Managing Editor