Xilinx Programmable Solutions Enable New Multi-Function Digital Video Broadcast Mobile Product from Screen Service


Italian Broadcast Equipment Manufacturer Leverages Integrated DSP Capabilities of Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGAs for NAB Debut of First Integrated DVB-H unit

LAS VEGAS, April 24 /Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) and Screen Service Broadcasting Technologies, SpA (Brescia, Italy) today announced that the Italian developer of advanced broadcasting equipment utilized the Xilinx® Virtex(TM)-4 and Spartan(TM)-3 FPGA families in its new digital video broadcasting (DVB-H) product, debuting this week at NAB 2006. The SCH 121UB system capitalizes on the high-speed, flexible digital signal processing (DSP) features of the Virtex-4 SX platform with the peripheral management capabilities enabled by the Spartan-3 FPGA device. Product demonstrations will be showcased by Screen Service in Booth C 333.

The SCH 121UB "City Filler" the first television broadcasting product with an integrated, multi-function DVB-H unit to integrate functionality that traditionally requires up to six discrete components. The SCH 121UB "City Filler" is the key component for the next generation infrastructure for mobile reception according to DVB-H and DVB-T standard.

It features satellite RX, 2 ASI inputs, 2 gigabit inputs, GPS receiver, SFN adapter, gigabit output, ASI output, site management interfaces (SNMP, RS232, R485), DVB-H modulator, UHF-up converter and 120w power amplifier in a 3u rack frame with redundant power supply. The unit is designed to grant superb reliability and to minimize the cost of ownership.

The product developers at Screen Service leveraged the performance and integration of the Virtex-4 SX device to enable all digital signal processing functions to be implemented in a single FPGA. The multiple peripheral functions required in the highly-integrated piece of equipment are managed by the Spartan-3 FPGA, providing unmatched flexibility and remote product upgrade in order to implement new functionalities to adapt the product to emerging standards. Screen Service uses the field programmability of the Xilinx solution to upgrade its equipment via Ethernet, serial RS232 or DVB transport stream. The product also uses broadcast industry-specific intellectual property (IP) from Xilinx, including a tri-mode Ethernet core.

"Xilinx provides the most robust and flexible solution to enable the variety of features we need to deliver in our new SCH 121UB. The integrated DSP features of the Virtex-4 device were critical to meeting our performance, size and cost requirements," said Mike Bargauan, director of Research & Development at Screen Service. "Their applications knowledge of the broadcast market segment was an additional benefit in helping us incorporate key features and providing an ideal platform for all of our broadcast-specific IP."

"The AVB market segment represents a significant opportunity for Xilinx and our programmable solutions, as evidenced by the type of advantages we have helped Screen Service achieve with its new product," said Roberto Bettineschi, RSM Channel Sales at Xilinx. "The combination of our device architecture and optimized solution offering of design tool, IP, design services and reference designs firmly positions us to meet the requirements of this very dynamic industry."

About Xilinx Broadcast Solutions

Xilinx provides a variety of solutions that are well-suited for broadcast applications, with benefits that include hardware acceleration to support 5x increase in bandwidth and processing required by high definition (HD) broadcasts, migration support between standard definition (SD) and HD, better compression techniques such as H.264, migration support between MPEG-2 content and H.264, and adoption of existing LAN/WAN infrastructures for IP transmission.

The Xilinx broadcast team offers reference designs, IP cores, design services, and education to help customers develop their own differentiator algorithms and feature sets for flexible, cost-effective, high performance technologies.

About Screen Service

Screen Service Broadcasting Technologies offers a complete range of equipment for the transmission of analog and digital television signals capable of meeting the increasingly sophisticated and demanding needs of a continually evolving market. For more information, visit www.screen.it.

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.

Source: Xilinx, Inc.

CONTACT: Tamara Snowden, Public Relations of Xilinx, Inc.,
+1-408-879-6146, or tamara.snowden@xilinx.com

Web site: www.xilinx.com/

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