It’s an All Programmable Planet

Max Maxfield, Editor in Chief of the new UBM/Xilinx site All Programmable Planet:

“We are interested in all the things that have to do with programmable “stuff.” … All this explains why any system architect or hardware design engineer looking at creating any form of electronic system or product now includes programmable devices in all their forms in the deliberations.”

Notice also the same marketing slogan at xilinx.com: “All Programmable technologies and devices”. No longer mere programmable logic.

I speculate that this is a new community site for Xilinx users which, with the launch of Zync EPP and Vivado high level tools and the roll-out of 7 Series devices, will drive new marketing messaging that repositions Xilinx products: as mainstream system design platforms and tools, applicable to any problem. No longer are FPGAs just for glue, low volume ASIC prototyping, routers, base stations, or custom accelerators. No longer are they relegated to the data plane, subordinate to some other embedded processor SoC. Rather with arrival of Zync, start to think of their product line as fast time-to-market platforms and tools for developing and shipping complete integrated systems, including volume consumer electronics. Expect to see a much greater emphasis on high level software assets — preported OSs (Linux, Android, …), applications frameworks (TV, automotive, medical), and targeted design platforms and kits, and more product love for embedded systems designers and software developers.

Xilinx has picked an apt slogan that nicely captures the value proposition of its programmable logic All Programmable platforms.

UPDATE: See also the Xilinx Company Overview page which makes this quite explicit. Xilinx technologies have evolved from “Programmable Logic Devices”; now “All Programmable Devices Enables Programmable Systems ‘Integration'”.

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