LynuxWorks has joined Xilinx's third party network, and the two companies have pledged to jointly optimize LynuxWorks's embedded operating systems for Xilinx's Virtex-4 family of FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays). The Virtex-4 family includes an FX line capable of running embedded Linux on one or dual PowerPC softcores.

Xilinx's Virtex-4 line comprises three product families, including a performance-oriented LX line with up to 200K logic gates, a DSP-oriented XC line available with 23K to 55K logic gates, and an embedded-processor-oriented FX line capable of running Linux and other standard embedded OSes on one or in some cases two PowerPC soft cores, clocked up to 450MHz, with “hardware acceleration.” Xilinx last fall shipped a Virtex-4 FX development kit that bundled a MontaVista “demonstration” embedded Linux OS.

Xilinx's Virtex-4 FX line comprises six models from 12K to 142K logic gates, 36 to 552 18-kbit block RAM/FIFOs with ECC, 600Kbits to 9.9Mbits of block RAM, and 4-20 DCMs (digital clock managers). The four largest FX-series FPGAs support dual PPC softcores, and up to four 10/100/1000 Ethernet MAC blocks. Eight-to-24 RocketIO serial transceivers are also an option on the higher-end FX models.

LynuxWorks's embedded software products primarily target communications, industrial, and defense/aerospace markets, it says. The products include BlueCat Linux, a soft real-time OS, and LynxOS, a proprietary hard RTOS (real-time OS) with a Linux application binary interface that provides a migration path from soft to hard real-time performance, LynuxWorks says.

Xilinx's senior manager of strategic partner marketing, Mark Jensen, stated, “LynuxWorks provides the ability to upgrade by seamlessly porting from one [embedded OS] to the next.”

LynuxWorks's VP of marketing, Robert Day, stated, “Xilinx FPGAs with embedded IBM PowerPC cores, combined with our software, will offer a powerful, industry-standard choice and an enormous amount of design flexibility.”

LynuxWorks additionally announced today that it had received a commendation from the San Jose City Council, for 18 years of service to the economy and local technology community. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales stated, “LynuxWorks remains a technology leader at the heart of the embedded systems revolution.”

 
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