Xilinx and OmniTek Launch the Era of All Programmable SoCs for Broadcast Equipment Makers at IBC 2012

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 6, 2012 – Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) and Certified Xilinx Alliance Program Member, OmniTek, launched a ground-breaking real-time video processing platform at IBC 2012 (Hall 10, Stand #10.B25) today that gives broadcast equipment OEMs new opportunities to accelerate their design productivity while reaching higher levels of performance through programmable system integration. Powered by Xilinx’s ARM®-based Zynq™-7000 All Programmable SoC, the OmniTek Zynq-7000 SoC Broadcast Development Kit represents a tremendous opportunity for broadcast OEMs to now combine their own hardware and software IP (intellectual property) with this high-performance, reprogrammable video processing platform for creating unique and differentiated broadcast equipment that can easily adapt to changing standards.

“Delivering value to broadcasters in a world of constantly changing standards is an increasingly difficult task for manufacturers that we and OmniTek are addressing with the Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC platform,” said Ben Runyan, director of broadcast and consumer segment marketing at Xilinx. “Leveraging the hardware and software programmability of our Zynq-7000 family, the platform gives our customers unprecedented capabilities for developing next-generation video solutions.”

Xilinx’s Zynq-7000 family is the industry’s first SoC family to incorporate an ARM dual-core Cortex™-A9 MPCore™ processing system with tightly coupled programmable logic on a single die. This combination dramatically increases performance and thus improves processing-intensive real-time video applications. Zynq-7000 devices are all programmable – meaning the hardware, software and I/O are each fully programmable – which enables OEMs to accelerate time-to-market, focus on product innovation and reprogram their products to meet changing standards and specifications.

“The unique architecture of the Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC development environment in broadcast applications enables OEMs to achieve their goals of accelerating the time-to-market for their next-generation of products, while incorporating unique features and reducing the bill-of-materials (BOM) of their system,” said Roger Fawcett, managing director of OmniTek. “Complementing this, the performance and reprogrammability of Zynq-7000 devices enables us to address broadcasters’ requirements to support performance-intensive real-time applications that need to be ‘future proof’ to adapt to changing industry standards and specifications.”

Broadcast equipment OEMs can also reduce the BOM costs for their equipment using a single Zynq-7000 device rather than multiple chips to achieve their processing requirements. Additionally, Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC-based products consume less power compared to multiple chip equivalents, thanks to the tight integration between the ARM processing system and 28nm programmable logic.

RTVE Version 2.0 with Enhanced Functionality

The OmniTek Zynq-7000 SoC Broadcast Development Kit includes the new 2.0 release of the Xilinx® Real-Time Video Engine (RTVE) developed jointly with OmniTek. RTVE 2.0 incorporates OmniTek’s advanced video processing IP, along with Xilinx’s Video & Image Processing Pack (VIPP). This unique combination enables OEMs to focus on innovation and features – rather than hardware configuration or software systems – so they can quickly develop professional-quality monitors, studio cameras, production switchers and other products with unique functionality and features.

Specific enhancements to RTVE 2.0 include:

Supports up to eight channels of video for increased system performance in the same area of silicon – a fourfold increase over version 1.5
OmniTek’s integrated deinterlacer / scaler with multi-port VDMA technology to optimize resources used and performance
Integrates Xilinx’s VCXO removal technology, further enhancing programmable system integration and also reducing bill-of-material cost and power consumption
Enables OmniTek’s video streaming over the PCI EXPRESS® block

The hardware, firmware and software incorporated in the OmniTek Zynq-7000 SoC Broadcast Development Kit are ideal for speeding the development of a number of broadcast equipment products, including:

Professional monitors and multiviewers, which require incoming video to be de-interlaced and scaled in real-time to support monitor formats up to 4K resolution or in 3D with no loss of video quality
Studio cameras and professional-grade camcorders, which can be built at lower cost, space and power through the integration of video and audio processing hardware alongside operating system processors and microcontrollers.
Production switchers, which must support multichannel video and audio processing with the best possible quality and enable smooth transitions between input feeds.

Availability

Availability of the OmniTek OZ745 Video Development Platform featuring Xilinx’s Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC is currently anticipated for first quarter of 2013. Both the development kit and the RTVE Version 2.0 will be offered through OmniTek. For more information, please visit the Xilinx Broadcast page or the OmniTek website.

About OmniTek

OmniTek is a leading design consultancy specializing in the development of software, hardware, and IP for the professional broadcast and image processing industries. The company also manufactures advanced test and measurement products for TV broadcasters, R&D laboratories, and post-production studios. For more information, visit www.omnitek.tv.

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the world’s leading provider of All Programmable FPGAs, SoCs and 3D ICs. These industry-leading devices are coupled with a next-generation design environment and IP to serve a broad range of customer needs, from programmable logic to programmable systems integration. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.