Virtex 4 expected production end-of-life

Look at their older parts, and see what their lifetimes & prices were.

This can also be a package question (sometimes just the lowest volume package variants are pruned), so you need to back a 'preferred package'.

It would be nice if Xilinx indicated what those 'mainstream' poackages were, for low volume users like yourself. Other sectors do this, and it is a good idea.

Another 'indicator' that appears before the EOL, is the NFND, and that also shows up in what we call the 'go away' price : The older device becomes more costly, than a newer model.

-jg

Nobby, don't worry. Virtex-4 is our best-selling family. We will keep it in production for several years. Whenever the time comes where we finally decide to drop a part, we give you a total of 18 months warning to place your order and take delivery. So there will be no ugly surprises. Hope this helps. Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications.

Nobby Here wrote:

Hi Jim, They do, although you need to work it out from the pricelist! :-) Cheers, Syms.

Hi Nobby,

What's your alternative if they do stop making it? You gotta port it. So the question is, spend the port money now, or later? Later's better, right?

No point worrying about stuff you can't influence!

Cheers, Syms. p.s. Xilinx are pretty good at keeping stuff available. So, you'll probably have got a new job long before the part goes obsolete! :-)

Nobby, as I wrote earlier (did it get lost?), you should not worry. Virtex-4 is the bets product line in Xilinx history (we expect Virtex-5 to become even better in due course). We will keep it in production for many years to come. When the day comes where we announce "Last buy", we give you an additional 18 months to place your order and take delivery. Don't worry, be happy... Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications

Thanks Peter and all who replied. That's reassuring then so we'll continue on the path we're taking. As you say, with 18 months in NFND we can do a lot in that time (including go out of business ;) ), and as someone else pointed out it is really a matter of pushing the redevelopment costs out into the future or facing them now. Future's definitely better.

Thanks Nobby.

There is another option to add to your list.

If you still have products in production using a chip that goes EOL, buy a lot of them, say enough for 10 more years. Maybe round up a bit.

This obviously works better if you can accurately estimate your production volumes and/or know how long you want to sell those products.