ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Oct. 17, 2017 — Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced its PolarFire™ field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have achieved a key milestone by passing the Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group’s (PCI SIG’s) PCIe endpoint compliance suites, working at 5 Gbps. This certifies the product has passed rigorous testing of the compliance workshop, with the PolarFire FPGAs now included in the organization’s coveted integrators list.
Microsemi’s PolarFire FPGA devices feature 12.7G transceivers and offer up to 50 percent lower power than competing mid-range FPGAs. They include hardened PCIe controller cores with both endpoints and root port modes available, as well as low power transceivers. In addition to establishing technical credibility with customers, passing the PCI SIG PCIe endpoint compliance suites demonstrates the robustness of PolarFire FPGAs as well as their performance capabilities for control planes and other applications in the lowest power, cost-optimized mid-range devices spanning from 100K logic elements (LEs) to 500K LEs.
“Achieving this key milestone from the leader in PCIe testing validates our PolarFire FPGAs’ robust performance capabilities via an independent third party, giving customers added confidence in leveraging these unique devices,” said Venki Narayanan, senior director software and systems engineering at Microsemi. “As we continue to see an increase in the use of FPGA-based PCIe implementations, we are pleased to offer an FPGA which caters to its specific technology requirements, along with an evaluation kit and boards to deliver a complete development solution.”
According to Dependra Lall, lead analyst at market research firm IndustryARC, surging demand for high-bandwidth data processing and transfer capabilities within computing, networking and storage has led to an increased adoption of PCIe beyond the traditional storage and chip-to-chip applications. There is also an increasing trend of FPGA-based PCIe implementation to easily transfer data to host systems or to PCIe endpoint enabled devices in applications such as high-performance computing, storage switches, industrial/medical imaging and Ethernet network interface cards. The high-performance computing and industrial imaging markets, combined, are expected to grow from $30.7 billion in 2017 to $47.5 billion by 2023, which will further proliferate implementation of FPGA-based PCIe designs in the market.
While Microsemi’s PolarFire FPGAs are ideal for a wide variety of applications within the communications, industrial, and aerospace and defense markets, the new certification demonstrates the devices’ particular suitability for PCIe-based complex system control planes. The PolarFire PCIe solution comes complete with Libero project, AX14 Interconnect, DDR3 controller, open source Windows and Linux host drivers, and a complete PolarFire FPGA PCIe User Guide. In addition, the company’s complementary PolarFire Evaluation Kit is a comprehensive platform for evaluating its PolarFire FPGAs which includes a PCIe edge connector with four lanes and a demo design. The kit features a high-pin-count FPGA mezzanine card (FMC), numerous surface mount assemblies (SMAs), PCIe, dual Gigabit Ethernet RJ45, small form-factor pluggable (SFP) modules and USB.
The company’s Libero™ SoC PolarFire Design Suite enables high productivity with its comprehensive, easy to learn, easy to adopt development tools for designing with Microsemi’s PolarFire FPGAs. The Libero SoC PolarFire Design Suite enables a design launching point for customers, with key quick start demonstration designs for rapid evaluation and prototyping. Multiple demo reference designs are available with full design files for Libero SoC PolarFiretargeting the PolarFire Evaluation Kit, including JESD204B Interface, PCI Express (PCIe) Endpoint, 10GBASE-R Ethernet Loopback, DSP FIR Filter and Multi-Rate Transceiver Demo, with additional reference designs planned over the coming months.
Availability
Microsemi’s PolarFire FPGA devices are available for engineering sample ordering now with standard lead times. The PolarFire Evaluation Kit (MPF300-EVAL-KIT-ES) is available for ordering and shipping now. For more information, visit www.microsemi.com/polarfire or email sales.support@microsemi.com.
About PolarFire FPGAs
Microsemi’s new cost-optimized PolarFire FPGAs deliver the industry’s lowest power at mid-range densities with exceptional security and reliability. The product family features 12.7 Gbps transceivers and offer up to 50 percent lower power than competing FPGAs. Densities span from 100K to 500K LEs and are ideal for a wide range of applications within wireline access networks and cellular infrastructure, defense and commercial aviation markets, as well as industry 4.0 which includes the industrial automation and internet of things (IoT) markets.
PolarFire FPGAs’ transceivers can support multiple serial protocols, making the products ideal for communications applications with 10Gbps Ethernet, CPRI, JESD204B, Interlaken and PCIe. In addition, the ability to implement serial gigabit Ethernet (SGMII) on GPIO enables numerous 1Gbps Ethernet links to be supported. PolarFire FPGAs also contain the most hardened security IP to protect customer designs, data and supply chain. The non-volatile PolarFire product family consumes 10 times less static power than competitive devices and features an even lower standby power referred to as Flash*Freeze. For more information, visit www.microsemi.com/polarfire.
About Microsemi
Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world’s standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California and has approximately 4,800 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.
