Conterfeit parts guidance

Hello all,

I am a Quality manager at Xilinx, and I have asked to provide
specific
guidance on the question of counterfieting.  I would like to start by
saying that the ONLY way to protect yourself is to purchase your
devices from an authorized Xilinx distributor.  A list can be found
at
this link. http://www.xilinx.com/company/sales/ww_disti.htm


If you a buying outside of this channel you are taking on a fair
amount of risk.  Over the past 1.5 years Xilinx along with the Dept
of
Homeland Security have become aware of an escalatng issue out of SE
Asia, where Xilinx component are being marked up for sale into grey
market channels.  We currently are looking into how to limit this
activity.


The real simple rule is that if you go to they brokers or independent
distributors you have absolutely no way of validating devices.  Even
if that entity provides what may appear to be legitimate
documentation, the supply chain is broken and the care, custody, and
control of the material is suspect.  In many cases Xilinx will not be
able to assist you in determining if those suspect devices are
legitimate or usable.


We must sustain our valid authorized sale and distribution channels
and in nearly all cases will not be able to assist or lend resources
to unvalidated supply chains.  That is not to say that we do not want
to support our customer base, but this ever escalating pollution of
the supply chain with grey market materials will ultimately strain
available resources that would historically assist in these cases.


Please help eliminate this issue by only purchasing though authorized
Xilinx sources, and you will avoid, completely, these types of issue.


Best regards

Maybe you should give us some information on how to proceed if we are stuck 
with exeed devices with significant value, and want to sell them.

Morten Leikvoll wrote:
> Maybe you should give us some information on how to proceed if we are
> stuck with exeed devices with significant value, and want to sell
> them.

eBay. 

craig.taylor@xilinx.com wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I am a Quality manager at Xilinx, and I have asked to provide
>specific
>guidance on the question of counterfieting.  I would like to start by
>saying that the ONLY way to protect yourself is to purchase your
>devices from an authorized Xilinx distributor.  A list can be found
>at
>this link. http://www.xilinx.com/company/sales/ww_disti.htm
>
>
>If you a buying outside of this channel you are taking on a fair
>amount of risk.  Over the past 1.5 years Xilinx along with the Dept
>of
>Homeland Security have become aware of an escalatng issue out of SE
>Asia, where Xilinx component are being marked up for sale into grey
>market channels.  We currently are looking into how to limit this
>activity.

Simple, burn the batch code (fabrication date) and speedgrade into the
die and make them readable through JTAG.

-- 
Programmeren in Almere?
E-mail naar nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)

craig.taylor@xilinx.com wrote:
>I am a Quality manager at Xilinx, and I have asked to provide
>specific
>guidance on the question of counterfieting.  I would like to start by
>saying that the ONLY way to protect yourself is to purchase your
>devices from an authorized Xilinx distributor.  A list can be found
>at
>this link. http://www.xilinx.com/company/sales/ww_disti.htm

The official distributors all have their own loops & hoops. So it's not
always practical to buy from them.

What we want to know is how to evaluate the authenticity of the product not
how to procure it.

Nico Coesel wrote:

> craig.taylor@xilinx.com wrote:
> 
> 
>>Hello all,
>>
>>I am a Quality manager at Xilinx, and I have asked to provide
>>specific
>>guidance on the question of counterfieting.  I would like to start by
>>saying that the ONLY way to protect yourself is to purchase your
>>devices from an authorized Xilinx distributor.  A list can be found
>>at
>>this link. http://www.xilinx.com/company/sales/ww_disti.htm
>>
>>
>>If you a buying outside of this channel you are taking on a fair
>>amount of risk.  Over the past 1.5 years Xilinx along with the Dept
>>of
>>Homeland Security have become aware of an escalatng issue out of SE
>>Asia, where Xilinx component are being marked up for sale into grey
>>market channels.  We currently are looking into how to limit this
>>activity.
> 
> 
> Simple, burn the batch code (fabrication date) and speedgrade into the
> die and make them readable through JTAG.

Speed is not known until final test, so that would require OTP fuse 
capability, but that may already be there, at least at the factory level ?.
Now, a really clever counterfeit will clone this too, but it would
catch slippage, easypath, and really dumb (wrong die) attempts.

Unique ID is another natural spin off, for expensive IP.

-jg

On Apr 4, 9:19 pm, Jim Granville <no.s...@designtools.maps.co.nz>
wrote:
> Nico Coesel wrote:
> > craig.tay...@xilinx.com wrote:
>
> >>Hello all,
>
> >>I am a Quality manager atXilinx, and I have asked to provide
> >>specific
> >>guidance on the question of counterfieting.  I would like to start by
> >>saying that the ONLY way to protect yourself is to purchase your
> >>devices from an authorizedXilinxdistributor.  A list can be found
> >>at
> >>this link.http://www.xilinx.com/company/sales/ww_disti.htm
>
> >>If you a buying outside of this channel you are taking on a fair
> >>amount of risk.  Over the past 1.5 yearsXilinxalong with the Dept
> >>of
> >>Homeland Security have become aware of an escalatng issue out of SE
> >>Asia, whereXilinxcomponent are being marked up for sale into grey
> >>market channels.  We currently are looking into how to limit this
> >>activity.
>
> > Simple, burn the batch code (fabrication date) and speedgrade into the
> > die and make them readable through JTAG.
>
> Speed is not known until final test, so that would require OTP fuse
> capability, but that may already be there, at least at the factory level ?.
> Now, a really clever counterfeit will clone this too, but it would
> catch slippage,easypath, and really dumb (wrong die) attempts.
>
> Unique ID is another natural spin off, for expensive IP.
>
> -jg

Please note, there is no way for an EasyPath device to be mistaken for
an FPGA device.
EasyPath devices are marked with a custom part number that is unlike
any standard Xilinx FPGA part number.

Cheers,
Patrick

pdorsey@gmail.com wrote:
> 
> Please note, there is no way for an EasyPath device to be mistaken for
> an FPGA device.
> EasyPath devices are marked with a custom part number that is unlike
> any standard Xilinx FPGA part number.

..and you think clean/re-labeling the package is a high-tech operation ?
Quite routine in the far east....

-jg

It is true that it is fairly simple for the current markings to be
easily removed and remarked.  I have seen several examples of where
this has happened.  The issue is that we can really not provide tools
that would allow legitimate users to validate the materials they
purchased outside of our sales channels without providing that same
information to the counterfieters.  The new generations of Xilinx
component are seeing the beginnings of factory level in chip security
features.

There is no viable way to test components to determine authentcity in
the field.  There are some visual aspects in the marking but that too
can be replicated.  These are the reason why I suggest purchasing
through a Xilinx authorized distributor.

I personally do not know how to answer the question on how to deal
with excess inventory.  It is more of the planning question.  I know
that there are situations where folks sell this material into an
independent distributor, or other broker businesses.  I am saying from
the perspective of care custody and control, that Xilinx is unable to
support materials purchased from this type of transaction.  I am not
saying that all independent distributors or brokers deal in
counterfiet materials.  If you have a source that has historically
performed well for you, please consider staying with trusted
sources.

Over the next year Xilinx is planning to make several security
enhancments to our device marking that will make counterfieting much
more difficult.

On Apr 4, 2:22=A0am, "Morten Leikvoll" <mleik...@yahoo.nospam> wrote:
> Maybe you should give us some information on how to proceed if we are stuc=
k
> with exeed devices with significant value, and want to sell them.

Hi Morten,

I am an independent distributor, but not in the typical fashion.  We
inventory in the neighborhood of $100 million of components that have
been purchased through reputable OEM's. We work very closely with our
contracted accounts that we have SMI and VMI programs in place. I
would like to take this offline and discuss a solution that will
benefit you and also keep product in proper channels. I sincerely feel
that I can help with your excess material and most long lead time
components you may need.

I look forward to hearing from you and getting a better understanding
of your situation. One Altera part I have an immediate order for is a
EP2S130F1508C3N. I thank you in advance for taking the time to give me
a quick call.

Best regards,

Jon E. Hansen
Strategic Sales
Pyramid Technologies Inc.
jon@pyramidemail.com
www.pyramidtechnologiesinc.com
(949)864-7745 Direct
(888)288-8913 Ext. 205
(949)636-1416 Cell
(949)864-1869 Fax
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