Advanced Training Classes for Altera and Xilinx

As well as the Xilinx and Altera toolsets, the classes will support generic tools including those from Exemplar, Synplicity and Synopsys. ASIC designers migrating to programmable technologies for the first time will particularly benefit from this training.

"These new classes are all about enabling an engineer to get geared up fast on how to exploit a particular technology," said Rob Hurley of Doulos. "They focus on presenting the architecture features, and then how the architecture inter-plays with the VHDL and synthesis tools to impact performance and utilisation."

Xilinx Software & Cores Marketing Manager for Europe, Giles Peckham, comments, "one million gate FPGA designs are reality today but they require unprecedented levels of productivity. Doulos’ intensive new training course offers all designers, whatever their design size, a short cut to high productivity, potentially saving weeks of design effort on critical designs.

VHDL TechClasses offer a rapid means to get up to speed with the target technology and further improve basic VHDL skills. They do require some previous VHDL experience, but are designed to follow on from standard VHDL training.

"Altera is very pleased to be working with Doulos on training for complex programmable logic. With densities of hundreds of thousands of gates and speeds of greater then 100MHz now possible, good training is often the limiting factor in realising a system. We have seen differences before and after training of 40% in terms of utilisation and 90% in performance. To put that another way, training can cut the costs of components by 70%" (Paul Hollingworth, Altera European Marketing Director)

Starting in March, the TechClasses will run monthly in the south of England, expanding to include other venues later in the year, including Manchester, Edinburgh, Stuttgart, Hannover and Eindhoven.

For more information, call Rachael Mahony at Doulos on 01425 471223.