Impulse C Integrates with BlueCat Embedded Linux for Prototyping for Xilinx FPGAs

Embedded Linux and FPGAs accelerate embedded software development

SAN JOSÉ, Calif., September 16, 2008—LynuxWorks™ Inc., a world leader in the embedded software market, and Impulse Accelerated Technologies, a world leader in software-to-FPGA tools, today announced technical collaboration, libraries and reference examples combining the Impulse C-to-FPGA tools with LynuxWorks' BlueCat embedded Linux operating system. This combination enables software developers to write C algorithms and easily refactor them for parallel processing on FPGA, a methodology that has shown 10 – 100X performance improvements in image, signal and data processing algorithms.

"Portability is a key differentiator for many of our customers," said Sonia Leal, Senior Product Manager at LynuxWorks. "BlueCat applications can be migrated to the LynxOS® real-time operating system for stricter, hard real-time performance, with little or no rewriting. Similarly, C code for hardware accelerators that has been developed using Impulse CoDeveloper™ can be migrated easily to different FPGAs and even to different embedded processor interfaces such as Xilinx APU and FSL, without significant rewrite."

"As embedded software developers seek productivity, they require robust development platforms, tools and operating systems," stated David Buechner, Impulse Vice President. "In their first projects with a programmable platform, these programmers benefit greatly from software-oriented design tools including familiar C-language constructs."

The Impulse development environment increases productivity by providing C-language compilation, optimization and hardware generation for FPGAs. The tools also handle the hardware interconnections between embedded PowerPC® and MicroBlaze™ processors and custom C-language hardware accelerators. This development method reduces the risks of experimenting with FPGAs while reducing time-to-market.

BlueCat Linux represents a highly stable, commercial-grade embedded operating system. BlueCat is available integrated with the Xilinx® EDK™ for support of the available PowerPC and MicroBlaze cores. The Xilinx EDK provides a rich feature set for developing BlueCat Linux applications and configuring custom BSPs using Xilinx hardware designs.

A reference example demonstrating the combined Impulse and LynuxWorks tool flow for the Xilinx ML507 development kit is available at no charge from Impulse.

About LynuxWorks

LynuxWorks, a world leader in the embedded software market, is committed to providing open and reliable real-time operating systems (RTOS) and software tools to embedded developers. The company's LynxOS family of operating systems offers open standards with the highest level of safety and security features, enabling many mission-critical systems in defense, avionics and other industries. Additionally, LynuxWorks' BlueCat Linux provides the features and support of embedded Linux for companies wanting to use open source technology for their embedded applications. The Eclipse-based Luminosity IDE gives a powerful and consistent development system across all LynuxWorks operating systems. Since it was established in 1988, LynuxWorks has created technology that has been successfully deployed in thousands of designs and millions of products made by leading communications, avionics, aerospace/defense, and consumer electronics companies. LynuxWorks' headquarters are located in San José, CA.

About Impulse

Impulse Accelerated Technologies is the market leader in C-to-FPGA tools and development services. Impulse C is an open, highly interoperable toolset compatible with standard C design, debug and compile environments. Impulse C allows software-application developers to rapidly and cost-effectively move applications originating in C-language to FPGA coprocessors. The Impulse C tools enable partitioning, optimization, and FPGA hardware generation. Interconnections between FPGA coprocessors and host processors are generated automatically for selected platforms. Impulse C supports platforms that include individual FPGA devices, multiple devices and clusters of FPGAs and standard processors. Learn more about Impulse Accelerated Technologies, headquartered in Kirkland, WA.

LynuxWorks is a trademark and LynxOS and BlueCat are registered trademarks of LynuxWorks, Inc. Other brand or product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of the respective holders. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Impulse C and CoDeveloper are trademarks of Impulse Accelerated Technologies.

LynuxWorks press contacts

Kirsten Long Director, Marketing Communications LynuxWorks, Inc. USA +1 408-979-4404	Barbara Stewart Patterson & Associates USA 480-488-6909
Hamid Mirab Managing Director EMEA LynuxWorks Ltd. United Kingdom +44 208-906-9506	Peter van der Sluijs Neesham Public Relations Europe +44 1442-879222