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Xilinx Demonstrates 10 Gbps NRZ Backplane Reference Design

At DesignCon 2004, Winchester Electronics and Interconnect Technologies, business units of Northrop Grumman Corp, and Xilinx Inc demonstrated the world's first implementation of a fully functioning 10 Gbps backplane reference design, manufactured using Winchester's SIP1000 I-Platform Passive Interconnect Technology, Interconnect Technologies' printed circuit board design and fabrication expertise, along with Xilinx Virtex-II Pro X FPGAs, and tested using Agilent 10 Gbps test and measurement equipment. Consistent with the I/O technology detailed in the UXPi standard, the companies demonstrated that 10 Gbps backplanes can be manufactured with off-the-shelf products and services available from Winchester Electronics, Interconnect Technologies and Xilinx.

"The inherent scalability and cost advantages of high-speed serial make this technology imperative for current and next-generation telecommunications, networking, and storage applications," said Erich Goetting, vice president and general manager of the Advanced Product Group at Xilinx. "Today's demonstration proves that Xilinx RocketIO technology continues to push the envelope; backplanes can be built today that support 5G, 6.25G and 10G serial rates, allowing tomorrow's backplanes to be built and deployed today."

"At DesignCon 2003, Winchester demonstrated SIP1000 I-Platform passive interconnect technology to prove that 10 Gbps backplane transmission in copper is possible," said Michael P. Driscoll, president of Winchester Electronics. "The passive channel technology we are demonstrating at DesignCon 2004 will serve as a solid base upon which transceiver technologies for data rates of 20 Gbps and beyond will be built. Northrop Grumman has raised the bar for interconnect technology companies, which will have to deliver performance along the whole channel through the PCB interface. The days of just selling connectors and printed circuit boards are gone and the days of selling channels have arrived. The reference design demonstrated in concert with Xilinx Virtex-II Pro X FPGAs proves that 10 Gbps in copper is a reality today."