XLoom Communications Reduces Costs, Lab Space and Energy Usage With Altera FPGA Development Board
(Top News, 22 Aug 2008 )
Continuing to demonstrate the flexibility and versatility FPGAs offer, Altera Corporation recently announced XLoom Communications is leveraging its Stratix II GX FPGA signal integrity development kit to provide a unique bit error rate (BER) testing environment. Altera’s FPGA-based development board enables XLoom to test its chip-scale optoelectronic interconnect modules more cost-effectively compared to traditional BER testing equipment. This unique testing environment provides a closer representation of actual customer conditions while delivering additional space and energy savings.
The Stratix II GX FPGA signal integrity development kit delivers a more than 90 percent savings over traditional BER testers that cost as much as $100,000. In addition, the small footprint of the Stratix II GX development kit helps maximize lab space while delivering a significant reduction in energy consumption and minimizing set-up and support time for engineers.
XLoom implemented the unique BER testing procedures using Stratix II GX development boards for the design and production of its AVDAT 4X optical 10GbaseCX4 transceiver. The Stratix II GX FPGAs were instrumental in enabling XLoom to develop InfiniBand SDR and DDR (20 Gbps) connectivity and 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for the AVDAT 4X.
“XLoom’s innovative use of our Stratix II GX development kit is yet another example of how companies are applying our FPGA products to cost-effectively address the difficult challenges they face,” said David Greenfield, senior director of product marketing, high-end products at Altera. “We are pleased to be able to help XLoom and other industry pioneers bring innovations to their space and succeed in their markets.”
