Development platforms for Virtex-5 FPGAs

The ML505 and ML506 are development platforms for serial connectivity and DSP applications based on the 65nm Virtex-5 FPGAs.

Xilinx has introduced the low-cost, feature-rich ML505 and ML506 development platforms for serial connectivity and DSP applications based on its 65nm Virtex-5 FPGAs.

These two development platforms combine the robust features and benefits of Virtex-5 FPGAs with all required mainstream interfaces and connectors, further simplifying designs and giving customers a time to market advantage.

The ML505 development platform based on the Virtex-5 LX50T device and ML506 development platform based on the Virtex-5 SX50T device allow designers to immediately begin taking advantages of the high-performance and low-power logic fabric, serial connectivity and DSP capabilities of Virtex-5 FPGAs.

Both the Virtex-5 LXT and SXT platforms offer 3.2Gbit/s low-power transceivers with built-in PCI Express endpoint and tri-mode Ethernet MAC blocks, allowing engineers to implement serial interfaces with the greatest ease of use.

The Virtex-5 SXT FPGA also has abundant DSP48E resources ideal for DSP intensive designs.

Both the ML505 and ML506 development platforms include many commonly used interfaces such as RJ-45 connectors for 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet networking, USB, PS/2 and RS-232 serial ports for computer peripherals, DVI and VGA ports for video applications, serial ATA for storage applications, and an SFP module for telecom applications.

Both development platforms feature onboard SODIMM sockets with 256Mbyte of DDR2 memory that can be expanded by the user, and onboard flash memory for multiple configuration options.

Single-ended and differential I/O expansion headers are also provided, enabling access to host modules and daughter cards.

These two development platforms are designed to support other Virtex-5 FPGAs in the same FF1136 package allowing customers to upgrade functionality with a common development platform in the future.

The ML505 and ML506 development platforms include a user guide, getting started tutorial, reference designs, board schematics and Gerber plots.

Both development platforms are priced at US $1195 and are immediately available online through the Xilinx global distribution network.

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