Xilinx doing a re-entry in non-volatile FPGA arena!!!

With Spartan-3AN is Xilinx making its entry in the non-volatile FPGA
arena.

I am glad that this can now be discussed in open, as WebPack 9.1
includes already support for S3-AN.
So my speculations, about "Why S3-A if its not volatile" was justified,
with the only difference that S3-A has 2 derivates, with and without
integrated non-volatile storage.

Antti

you mean there is no need for PROM? it's sure convienient for customer.
do they use Flash or EEprom ?

jet

Antti wrote:
> With Spartan-3AN is Xilinx making its entry in the non-volatile FPGA
> arena.
>
> I am glad that this can now be discussed in open, as WebPack 9.1
> includes already support for S3-AN.
> So my speculations, about "Why S3-A if its not volatile" was justified,
> with the only difference that S3-A has 2 derivates, with and without
> integrated non-volatile storage.
> 
> Antti

"jetq88" <jetq5188@gmail.com> wrote:

>you mean there is no need for PROM? it's sure convienient for customer.
>do they use Flash or EEprom ?

More important: does it have a proper content theft protection system?

>jet
>
>Antti wrote:
>> With Spartan-3AN is Xilinx making its entry in the non-volatile FPGA
>> arena.
>>
>> I am glad that this can now be discussed in open, as WebPack 9.1
>> includes already support for S3-AN.
>> So my speculations, about "Why S3-A if its not volatile" was justified,
>> with the only difference that S3-A has 2 derivates, with and without
>> integrated non-volatile storage.
>> 
>> Antti
>

-- 
Reply to nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
Bedrijven en winkels vindt U op www.adresboekje.nl

jetq88 schrieb:

> you mean there is no need for PROM? it's sure convienient for customer.
> do they use Flash or EEprom ?
>
> jet
>
> Antti wrote:
> > With Spartan-3AN is Xilinx making its entry in the non-volatile FPGA
> > arena.
> >
> > I am glad that this can now be discussed in open, as WebPack 9.1
> > includes already support for S3-AN.
> > So my speculations, about "Why S3-A if its not volatile" was justified,
> > with the only difference that S3-A has 2 derivates, with and without
> > integrated non-volatile storage.
> >
> > Antti
it looks like serial flash to the user logic, and it can be accessed
after configuration.

Antti

Sounds interesting.. Antti, have you any idea of the size of the N.V. 
memory, and whether (as jet wrote) it can be used to store a configuration? 
I haven't gotten around to installing 9.1 yet, maybe i'll make it more of a 
priority. Ben

"Antti" <Antti.Lukats@xilant.com> wrote in message 
news:1169484130.644970.290580@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> jetq88 schrieb:
>
>> you mean there is no need for PROM? it's sure convienient for customer.
>> do they use Flash or EEprom ?
>>
>> jet
>>
>> Antti wrote:
>> > With Spartan-3AN is Xilinx making its entry in the non-volatile FPGA
>> > arena.
>> >
>> > I am glad that this can now be discussed in open, as WebPack 9.1
>> > includes already support for S3-AN.
>> > So my speculations, about "Why S3-A if its not volatile" was justified,
>> > with the only difference that S3-A has 2 derivates, with and without
>> > integrated non-volatile storage.
>> >
>> > Antti
> it looks like serial flash to the user logic, and it can be accessed
> after configuration.
>
> Antti
> 

Nico Coesel schrieb:

> "jetq88" <jetq5188@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >you mean there is no need for PROM? it's sure convienient for customer.
> >do they use Flash or EEprom ?
>
> More important: does it have a proper content theft protection system?
>
> >jet
> >
> >Antti wrote:
> >> With Spartan-3AN is Xilinx making its entry in the non-volatile FPGA
> >> arena.
> >>
> >> I am glad that this can now be discussed in open, as WebPack 9.1
> >> includes already support for S3-AN.
> >> So my speculations, about "Why S3-A if its not volatile" was justified,
> >> with the only difference that S3-A has 2 derivates, with and without
> >> integrated non-volatile storage.
> >>
> >> Antti
> >
>
> --
> Reply to nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
> Bedrijven en winkels vindt U op www.adresboekje.nl

S-3A (and AN) have at least the DNA (factory serial number), so this
could potentially be used for design theft protection. I dont know
about other measures that may be present additionally.

Antti

Antti <Antti.Lukats@xilant.com> wrote:
>With Spartan-3AN is Xilinx making its entry in the non-volatile FPGA
>arena.

>I am glad that this can now be discussed in open, as WebPack 9.1
>includes already support for S3-AN.
>So my speculations, about "Why S3-A if its not volatile" was justified,
>with the only difference that S3-A has 2 derivates, with and without
>integrated non-volatile storage.

Any price indication for the XC3S50A-TQ144 part ..? and the rest? RoHS?

Only Avnet, NuHorizons listed as suppliers..

Will there be any more than 50k chips in non-bga package?

Antti,

See:

http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xil_ans_display.jsp?iLanguageID=1&iCountryID=1&getPagePath=24332

Answer Record 24332.

Sorry to keep everyone guessing, but we will announce when we are ready.

Austin

Austin Lesea schrieb:
> Antti,
>
> See:
>
> http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xil_ans_display.jsp?iLanguageID=1&iCountryID=1&getPagePath=24332
>
> Answer Record 24332.
>
> Sorry to keep everyone guessing, but we will announce when we are ready.
>
> Austin

Hi Austin,

I hope I havent said anything too much, I felt it is OK to let the cat
out of sack, as the WP9.1 includes the S3-AN support files. And sure I
know that for the actual release and full docs there is no public
discussion until full release.

BTW the AR about ISE 9.1 and S3AN has date: 12/05/06 08:00:36 !?
Kind of weird that this AR was filed before ISE 9.1 availability.

Antti

Antti,

No problem.  We have to release our software on a regular schedule, so
there is no holding it back.

I would caution that whatever is revealed in the software may be updated
or changed in the future, so the recommendation to work with our FAEs
(if you really want to use a product before its release) is still valid.

Austin