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Alpha Data Company Overview. Adam Smith VP Sales & Support. www.alpha-data.com. FPGA Based High Performance Computing. Alpha Data is a leading global supplier of high performance COTS reconfigurable computer platforms and support software.
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Alpha Data Company Overview Adam Smith VP Sales & Support www.alpha-data.com
FPGA Based High Performance Computing Alpha Data is a leading global supplier of high performance COTS reconfigurable computer platforms and support software. Since 1993, Alpha Data has been building on advances in FPGA technology to offer high-performance, flexible and scalable products to innovative developers throughout the world. Alpha Data offers an extensive range of products developed to harness the power of the latest generation of FPGA devices supporting industry standard interfaces, operating systems and design tools. Focusing on the strategic market areas of digital signal processing (DSP), imaging systems, communications, military, aerospace and high performance computing (HPC), Alpha Data has established a global customer base and reputation for leading edge design. Based in Edinburgh, UK and Denver, Colorado Alpha Data has used the advent of high density, high speed FPGAs to embed this technology providing customers with rapid time to market, flexibility and extended product life span.
Reconfigurable Processing Connectivity Flexibility • Alpha Data PMC and XMC mezzanine boards provide support for many different physical interfaces and connectivity requirements. Front panel I/O can be customized with a large selection of I/O adapters (XRM modules) that connect to a base FPGA card. • Up to 146 digital I/O signals, x8 Rocket I/O lanes • ADC inputs up to 3Gsps, DAC outputs 2.3GHz • Ethernet, CX4, Fiber-Optics, CameraLink, LVDS, RS-485, FPDP, SMPTE, DVI, and many more • Custom I/O adapters are also available • Backplane I/O connections: up to 64 digital I/O, and x18 Rocket I/O lanes Alpha Data PMC and XMC boards can be used in standard workstation PC development systems or installed directly into ruggedized deployed systems. This modular approach supports many industry standard embedded computing systems, such as Compact-PCI, VME, VXS, VPX, PCI, PCI-Express and others. Alpha Data FPGA boards are provided with a Software Development Kit (SDK) that includes example designs and applications to begin using the hardware right out of the box. Software drivers for Windows, Linux and VxWorks are also provided with a comprehensive cross platform API intended to assist the user in creating an application using one of Alpha Data's range of reconfigurable computing cards. • Utilizing an FPGA co-processor can have many benefits over a traditional software or ASIC based processing system. Harness this power with modular PMC and XMC boards from Alpha Data. • Largest and fastest Xilinx FPGAs available on small form factor boards • On-board memory available in many configurations (up to 2GB of DDR3 SDRAM, up to 12.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth) • PCI or PCIe host interface included in separate device which allows re-configuration of the FPGA, ease of design, and resource savings • Industrial operating temperature and ruggedized options available
Alpha Data Company History • Formed from DSP Software company 3L in 1993 to support DEC Alpha processors • Profitable after first year • Focus changed to FPGA in 1999 • Xilinx Certified Partners • Employee owned since 2003 • Alpha Data Inc. (US Subsidiary) Formed April 30, 2004 • 4+ years of experience with Xilinx Virtex-5 devices. Currently offering 10 Virtex-5 based products. • Currently shipping Virtex-6 based XMC boards with x4 PCIe Gen2 support
OCP-IP Support OCP-IP (Open Core Protocol - Intellectual Property) provides a common standard for system on-chip core interfaces. It is an open flexible standard which allowing it to encompass a variety of different profiles sharing a similar data transfer methodology. Even if the signals of two OCP-IP modules to not strictly match it should be relatively easy to connect them with minor modification (some tools are proposed to automate this, but they are not considered within this library). The Alpha Data ADPKGOCP reference IP library is a collection of VHDL modules and packages aimed at easing system level design of FPGAs on Alpha Data ADM-XRC Series boards. The core functionality of these blocks is based upon a small number of OCP-IP based profiles, which are provided as abstract signal types to simplify interfacing of multiple blocks. The libraries and blocks are provided as standard VHDL, and system level connection can be specified easily in that language, requiring no proprietary vendor specific tools, and complete compatibility with industry standard Synthesis and Simulation tools.
Medical/Bioinformatics MRI Scanner Genome Sequencing Medical Imaging Telecoms Encryption Security Fingerprint Recognition Luggage Scanner Markets/Applications Mil/Aero • Radar • Sonar • Satellite Modem • SDR Broadcast • Compression HPC • Financial Modelling • Oil/Gas EM Simulation
Partnerships • Mercury Computer • Hardware alliance to provide integrated solutions • Xilinx • Close working relationship with Xilinx. Substantial engineering support and early access to the latest chips • Mathworks • Help with developing toolboxes and libraries to interface our hardware with Matlab and Simulink • Impulse • Impulse C provides a rapid, easy way for designers to develop ANSI C, refactored for increased parallelism and optimal performance on FPGA • FHPCA • Consortium of Scottish companies working with FPGAs as accelerators for Supercomputing applications
Alpha-Data Company Advantages • Xilinx Partnership • Get newest, fastest, biggest FPGA • Small Company • Custom design services – IP, I/O Modules • High level of support • Product Architecture • PCI Bridge device – Re-Configurable Target, resource savings, ease of design • XRM – Re-Configurable I/O • Flexible Solutions • Value Added to products • Comprehensive SDK • Example Applications • Quality control – full functional test of every product • Build to Order
ADM-XRC-5T2-ADV XRM-FCN-C1 XRM-CLINK-ADV JPEG2000 Video • FPGA Cores: IP Partnerships with Alpha-Data (Compatible with our Hardware) • CAST/ALMA JPEG2000 Encoder Core integration • 4i2i H.264 (baseline, main, high), MPEG2 Encode & Decode Core integration • Analog Devices ADV212 JPEG2000 video processors • Supports full-frame 1080i (2 - ADV212 can be combined) • Encryption / Decryption
ADM-XRC SDK The ADM-XRC SDK is a set of resources that assist the creation of applications using Alpha Data's ADM-XRC range of reconfigurable computing hardware. The ADM-XRC SDK consists of the following components: • Header files and DLL import libraries for communicating with the ADMXRC2 API • Sample C applications in source code form (and as binaries, in Windows) • Sample FPGA designs, both in source code form and as prebuilt bitstream (.BIT) files • An introduction to the local bus used by the ADM-XRC range • FPGA pinouts in the form of constraints (UCF) files • The ADM-XRC SDK is free of charge to all customers who have purchased Alpha Data reconfigurable computing hardware. • The Alpha Data ADM-XRC SDK can be downloaded for the following operating systems Microsoft Windows, Linux and VxWorks.