Mentor Graphics Announces Synthesis Support for Xilinx Virtex-5 SXT FPGAs

Designed to address the ultra-high DSP bandwidth and lower system cost requirements of next-generation wireless and video applications, the Virtex-5 SXT family expands the Xilinx XtremeDSP offering with three new devices. "Virtex-5 SXT greatly expands the Xilinx DSP capabilities, providing solutions for designs that previously required an ASIC or ASSP," said Simon Bloch, general manager, Mentor Graphics Design Creation and Synthesis Division. "With the large number of DSP and memory blocks available in this new family, Virtex-5 SXT designers will need the sophisticated control capabilities found within Precision Synthesis and other Mentor DSP-related tools."

The companies began work last year on Virtex-5 SXT FPGA support within the Mentor Graphics family of synthesis tools. "Complex FPGAs and designs require much more than push-button solutions," said Sandeep Vij, vice president of world-wide marketing for Xilinx. "With its capabilities of analyzing and managing large, complex designs and advanced FPGA architectures, Precision Synthesis is the perfect match for our new Virtex-5 family."

Precision Synthesis forms the centerpiece of Mentor Graphics' FPGA flow - the industry's most comprehensive vendor-independent solution for FPGA design. With advanced support for ASIC prototyping (support for DesignWare libraries, SDC constraints, gated-clock handling, etc.) plus advanced implementation and optimization techniques such as automatic mapping and inferencing of dedicated DSP and RAM blocks, Precision Synthesis is uniquely suited to handle today's high-end FPGAs. In addition, Precision Synthesis features an award-winning design analysis capability, allowing designers to cross-probe between multiple views as well as perform interactive static timing for rapid "what-if" analyses. Precision Synthesis reduces design iterations, and enables faster, more predictable completion of designs, while delivering high quality of results. As a part of the Mentor Graphics synthesis product line, LeonardoSpectrum offers customers a well-proven, mature synthesis solution for both FPGAs and ASICs - Mentor Graphics.