ARM ♥ Xilinx!

The good news is that as a part of SemiWiki we get free media passes to all of the cool conferences. The bad news is that our inboxes get flooded with announcements. ARM TechCon is next week and my delete button is on overtime but it is interesting to see who is active in conferences and who is not. In this case Xilinx is very active and Altera not so much which is surprising since Altera has ARM inside, right?

Also Read: Pigs Fly. Altera Goes with ARM on Intel 14nm

My first FPGA experience was with a start-up called GateField which was acquired by Actel in 2000 then Actel was acquired by Microsemi in 2010. Some of the GateField people are still at Microsemi, others are at QuickLogic and Lattice. For me, the GateField experience of competing against Altera and Xilinx in the trenches was enough for a lifetime, absolutely.

As a Strategic Foundry Relationship Consultant I enjoyed working with Altera down to 20nm. 40nm was a lot of fun since Xilinx and their foundry partner UMC missed a step. Xilinx then moved to TSMC at 28nm and has dominated ever since, just my opinion of course. In my experience both Xilinx and Altera have great technology but Xilinx executes at a higher level and has a much stronger sales and marketing channel. ARM TechCon is a clear example:

Register today for ARM TechCon 2014 to learn how Xilinx® and ARM® are delivering smarter solutions with the ARM processor-based Zynq® All Programmable SoC.

Xilinx In-booth Customer and Ecosystem Partner Demonstrations Will Feature:

• System on Module presented by NI
• Integrated Media Processing Platform presented by Cloudium
• Medical Application Development Platform presented by Topic
• IC CAM for Personal Identity Recognition by Cornerstone
• Real-Time Object Recognition and Reconstruction by VanGogh Imaging

Xilinx Product Teardown Presentation

• October 2nd at 11:30 a.m. in the ARM TechCon Theater: Moderated by Steve Leibson, Editor of Xcell Daily, the product teardown will feature the NI VirtualBench and the Cloudium Integrated Media Processing Platform.

Xilinx Technical Presentation

• October 2nd at 11:30 a.m. in the Santa Clara Convention Center: Join Carl Cao, Wireless Systems Architect at Xilinx, to learn about “Integrated All Programmable HW and SW Platforms for Wireless Applications”.

To learn more about how Xilinx & ARM are delivering All Programmable Solutions for Smarter Systems,please visit Smarter Systems

I did not get a mailer from Altera but I did reach out to them and was told an Altera wireless expert will present on optimizing wireless radio heads using ARM-based SoC FPGAs:

Wireless DPD (Digital Pre-Distortion) Optimization and Profiling in Altera SoC Devices

In addition, Altera is planning some ARM-related news at the show but, for obvious reasons, I was not offered an advanced briefing. Ever since Altera and TSMC divorced, Altera and I don’t speak much. In fact, I was at TSMC Fab 12 when the Altera/Intel relationship was announced and it really did feel like a divorce after a very long marriage.

If you are at ARM TechCon on Wednesday or Thursday look me up. It would be a pleasure to meet you!

You can read more about Xilinx on SemiWiki HERE.

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ARM TechCon 2014delivers an at-the-forefront comprehensive forum created to ignite the development and optimization of future ARM-based embedded products. By offering three full days of technical tracks, demonstrations, and industry insight from broad and deep levels of industry-leading companies and innovative start-ups, ARM TechCon remains more than a tradeshow; it is a comprehensive learning environment for the entire embedded community, uniting the software and hardware communities.