"All Programmable FPGA, providing hardware efficiency to software programmers", Ivo Bolsens, Xilinx

Smart Systems create new challenges for semiconductor components that need to provide, at one hand, the ease of software programmability and, on the other hand, the capability of hardware efficiency. This dichotomy is driven by, on the one hand , the need for a software stack that supports flexibility, scalability, fast development cycles and, on the other hand, the need for hardware optimization to support performance, efficiency and cost. In this talk, we will discuss the technical trends in major market segments such as datacenters, 5G wireless infrastructure and software defined networking and the resulting requirements for semiconductor platforms, both from hardware and software perspective. To provide an answer to these challenges, it will be demonstrated on how FPGA technology is evolving from a programmable hardware solution catering to ASIC refugees towards an All Programmable architecture empowering system and software engineers.

Ivo Bolsens is senior vice president and chief technology officer (CTO), with responsibility for advanced technology development, Xilinx research laboratories (XRL) and Xilinx university program (XUP). Bolsens came to Xilinx in June 2001 from the Belgium-based research center IMEC, where he was vice president of information and communication systems. His research included the development of knowledge-based verification for VLSI circuits, design of digital signal processing applications, and wireless communication terminals. He also headed the research on design technology for high-level synthesis of DSP hardware, HW/SW co-design and system-on-chip design. Bolsens holds a PhD in applied science and an MSEE from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.