Do you like Virtex-5 ?

Do you like Virtex-5 ? Then please vote for it...

The editors of Electronic Design News think Virtex-5 is an innovative
product;
they have nominated for their 17th Annual EDN Innovation Awards:

 the Xilinx Virtex-5 Design Team for "Innovator of the Year," and

 the Virtex-5 LXT platform for "Innovation of the Year" (in the
Digital ICs category)

EDN is asking their readers to select the winner.

=B7         Learn more ( http://www.xilinx.com/prs_rls/2007/silicon_vir/
0727_ednawards.htm )

=B7         Vote now! ( www.edn.com/innovationballot.asp )
And confirm your vote as soon as you receive an automated email from
EDN.

Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications, and proud of it !

Peter Alfke wrote:

> Do you like Virtex-5 ? Then please vote for it...
> 
> The editors of Electronic Design News think Virtex-5 is an innovative
> product;
> they have nominated for their 17th Annual EDN Innovation Awards:
> 
>  the Xilinx Virtex-5 Design Team for "Innovator of the Year," and
> 
>  the Virtex-5 LXT platform for "Innovation of the Year" (in the
> Digital ICs category)
> 
> EDN is asking their readers to select the winner.
> 
> �         Learn more ( http://www.xilinx.com/prs_rls/2007/silicon_vir/
> 0727_ednawards.htm )
> 
> �         Vote now! ( www.edn.com/innovationballot.asp )
> And confirm your vote as soon as you receive an automated email from
> EDN.
> 
> Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications, and proud of it !

I see a pretty small category :
( where do these guys get their candidates ? - could it be advertiser 
revenue ? )
  They also miss a [none of the above] vote, so readers cannot indicate 
if they agree with the shortlists.

Digital ICs, programmable logic, and memory:
  PEX 8548 PCI Express switch (PLX Technology)
  MR2A16A MRAM (Freescale)
  Virtex-5 LXT FPGAs (Xilinx)

and since the award is for innovation :

Adj.	
1. innovative - ahead of the times;
2. innovative - being or producing something like nothing done or 
experienced or created before;

then the clear winner (by a large margin) is the MRAM.

That's far closer to innovative than "another iteration in FPGAs" ?

-jg

Peter Alfke wrote:
> Do you like Virtex-5 ? Then please vote for it...

What do I do if I think Virtex-5 is really cool but no normal user can 
take delivery of one?

Most awards (e.g. the Oscars) are for products which are in meaningful 
production. Which doesn't seem to be the case for Virtex-5, and for 
Virtex-4, if distributor stockholdings are anything to go by.

On Feb 15, 5:06 pm, Tim <t...@nooospam.roockyloogic.com> wrote:
> Peter Alfke wrote:
> > Do you like Virtex-5 ? Then please vote for it...
>
> What do I do if I think Virtex-5 is really cool but no normal user can
> take delivery of one?
>
> Most awards (e.g. the Oscars) are for products which are in meaningful
> production. Which doesn't seem to be the case for Virtex-5, and for
> Virtex-4, if distributor stockholdings are anything to go by.

Put in an order for 1000 pieces of any Virtex-5 LX or LXT (except
perhaps for the biggest -330 parts)  with the ES suffix (early silicon
=with errata sheet), and watch us ship from inventory.

 The trouble with distributors is that they do not want or like to
stock "ES" parts. It's s sad story, for these ES parts are what seeds
the important innovative user designs.
But the distributor will (must!) take your order for shipment from
Xilinx.
There is no scarcity of Virtex-5 LX and LXT devices ! Our two
foundries know how to make them in quantity...
Complain to me if you encounter a delivery problem of ES devices.
(peter@xilinx.com)
Peter Alfke, not in Sales or Marketing, but with close ties to it.

Tim,

Well, that is odd, because we have ES material in stock (for V5).

In the V5 program, we have met, or met early every public date we gave.

After the V4 issues with FX MGT, we promised ourselves to never do that, 
ever.  Never.  Ever.  So, if you are with-holding your vote because of 
your V4FX experience, we apologise, and promise to do much better (and 
are doing much better).

Peter and I have personally helped a few folks get their hands on their 
V5 ES parts, when it seemed that the distributors had failed them.  If 
your distributor has failed you, we want to know.

As to who you want to vote for, you can always vote (in another beauty 
contest) for the "most innovative product in 2006 -- the Stratix III." 
(Note, quotes are from a press release!).  That is a good one:  the 
product will sample in September, 2007....

Of course, it is a free Internet, and the chip you should vote for is 
the one that best fit the criteria as you decide.

Austin

Peter Alfke wrote:
> On Feb 15, 5:06 pm, Tim <t...@nooospam......com> wrote:
>> Peter Alfke wrote:
>>> Do you like Virtex-5 ? Then please vote for it...
>> What do I do if I think Virtex-5 is really cool but no normal user can
>> take delivery of one?
>>
>> Most awards (e.g. the Oscars) are for products which are in meaningful
>> production. Which doesn't seem to be the case for Virtex-5, and for
>> Virtex-4, if distributor stockholdings are anything to go by.
> 
> Put in an order for 1000 pieces of any Virtex-5 LX or LXT (except
> perhaps for the biggest -330 parts)  with the ES suffix (early silicon
> =with errata sheet), and watch us ship from inventory.

Not practical. There is no published pricing for these parts and 
distribution refuses to give pricing without an order.

To be blunt, Peter, you know that I have the highest regard for Xilinx, 
but the way you conduct your sales business these days is very 
disheartening. An unblinking concentration on the major accounts is just 
fine, but for the great majority of users:

- you cannot buy the Virtex-5
- you cannot buy most of the Virtex-4 range
- you cannot buy the Spartan-3E
- you cannot buy the Spartan-3A
- the Xilinx online store gives a new meaning to "store"

If you think I'm exaggerating, try the Avnet site:

Virtex-5 parts: all out of stock, no pricing
Virtex-4 parts: out of 243 parts (mostly priced!) just 59 are available
Spartan-3A parts: "Part is not found as a stocked item"
Spartan-3E parts: prototype parts only and no higher volume pricing

NuHo show pretty much the same results.

If you, or anyone else in Xilinx, would like to improve matters, could 
you please publish a comprehensive price and availability list for the 
various families. Then the poor old working engineer can make a 
cost/benefit/risk analysis - after all, that's what you want your 
customers to do before setting forth on designs.

Tim wrote:
> 
> If you think I'm exaggerating, try the Avnet site:

As an equal-opportunity economist, I tried the Stratix numbers at the 
Arrow site. As far as I can tell the StratixIII (EP3S) doesn't have an 
entry, like the Virtex-5. The StratixII (EP2S) picture appears to be 
about the same as the Virtex-4. I didn't check their equivalents to 
Spartan3.

But I'm not at all familiar with Altera and someone more in that culture 
may care to check or comment.

Am I the only one who finds him tiring?

I guess it would be funny if I wasn't using so many Xilinx parts.

Ricky.

On Feb 15, 6:10 pm, Austin <aus...@xilinx.com> wrote:
> Tim,
>
> Well, that is odd, because we have ES material in stock (for V5).
>
> In the V5 program, we have met, or met early every public date we gave.
>
> After the V4 issues with FX MGT, we promised ourselves to never do that,
> ever.  Never.  Ever.  So, if you are with-holding your vote because of
> your V4FX experience, we apologise, and promise to do much better (and
> are doing much better).
>
> Peter and I have personally helped a few folks get their hands on their
> V5 ES parts, when it seemed that the distributors had failed them.  If
> your distributor has failed you, we want to know.
>
> As to who you want to vote for, you can always vote (in another beauty
> contest) for the "most innovative product in 2006 -- the Stratix III."
> (Note, quotes are from a press release!).  That is a good one:  the
> product will sample in September, 2007....
>
> Of course, it is a free Internet, and the chip you should vote for is
> the one that best fit the criteria as you decide.
>
> Austin

Tim <tim@nooospam.roockyloogic.com> wrote:

> If you, or anyone else in Xilinx, would like to improve matters, could 
> you please publish a comprehensive price and availability list for the 
> various families. Then the poor old working engineer can make a 
> cost/benefit/risk analysis - after all, that's what you want your 
> customers to do before setting forth on designs.

To get an idea what information is needed, take a look at the Texas
Instruments webpage and go to a particular device, like the just announced
ADS5231 and follow the links to the part to reach e.g.
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/ads5231.html

You find
- package option
- buget price
- Inventory
- Lead time
- distributors (if any yet)
- and a sample request entry
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Tim <tim@nooospam.roockyloogic.com> wrote:

> If you, or anyone else in Xilinx, would like to improve matters, could 
> you please publish a comprehensive price and availability list for the 
> various families. Then the poor old working engineer can make a 
> cost/benefit/risk analysis - after all, that's what you want your 
> customers to do before setting forth on designs.

To get an idea what information is needed, take a look at the Texas
Instruments webpage and go to a particular device, like the just announced
ADS5231 and follow the links to the part to reach e.g.
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/ads5231.html

You find
- package option
- budget price
- Inventory
- Lead time
- distributors (if any yet)
- and a sample request entry
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------