ML310 User Guide www.xilinx.com 11
UG068 (v1.01) August 25, 2004 1-800-255-7778
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Chapter 1
Introduction
to Virtex-II Pro, ISE, and EDK
Virtex-II Pro
The Virtex-II Pro Platform FPGA solution is the most technically sophisticated silicon and
software product development in the history of the programmable logic industry. The goal
was to revolutionize system architecture “from the ground up.” To achieve that objective,
the best circuit engineers and system architects from IBM, Mindspeed, and Xilinx co-
developed the world's most advanced Platform FPGA silicon product. Leading teams from
top embedded systems companies worked together with Xilinx software teams to develop
the systems software and IP solutions that enabled new system architecture paradigm.
The result is the first Platform FPGA solution capable of implementing high performance
system-on-a-chip designs previously the exclusive domain of custom ASICs, yet with the
flexibility and low development cost of programmable logic. The Virtex-II Pro family
marks the first paradigm change from programmable logic to programmable systems,
with profound implications for leading-edge system architectures in networking
applications, deeply embedded systems, and digital signal processing systems. It allows
custom user-defined system architectures to be synthesized, next-generation connectivity
standards to be seamlessly bridged, and complex hardware and software systems to be co-
developed rapidly with in-system debug at system speeds. Together, these capabilities
usher in the next programmable logic revolution.
Summary of Virtex-II Pro Features
The Virtex-II Pro has an impressive collection of both programmable logic and hard IP that
has historically been the domain of the ASICs.
• High-performance Platform FPGA solution including
♦ Up to twenty-four RocketIO™ embedded multi-gigabit transceiver blocks (based
on Mindspeed's SkyRail™ technology)
♦ Up to four IBM® PowerPC™ RISC processor blocks
• Based on Virtex™-II Platform FPGA technology
♦ Flexible logic resources, up to 125,136 Logic Cells
♦ SRAM-based in-system configuration
♦ Active Interconnect™ technology
♦ SelectRAM™ memory hierarchy
♦ Up to 556 Dedicated 18-bit x 18-bit multiplier blocks
♦ High-performance clock management circuitry
♦ SelectIO™-Ultra technology
♦ Digitally Controlled Impedance (DCI) I/O