Virtex4FX12 and Spartan3 lead time

Francesco schrieb:

Francesco,

for the Xilinx online web-shop to be re-opened I am afraid the chances are getting smaller and smaller as time is passing by since the close of the online shop.

so your only could be if some company has overstocked or has the parts as overleft, but even so, I think it is not even legal for them to resell those parts to you. As parts purchased from Xilinx disties can not be resold.

Antti

Antti,

Parts can be resold: if I bought too many, and I don't need them, there are reputable resellers who buy overstock, and resell. After all, once I buy the parts, they are mine, they do not somehow still belong to Xilinx...no one is breaking any 'laws' here. Happens all the time (unfortunately).

What Xilinx does not do is offer support to companies who have parts purchased through resellers (as it detracts from the distributors, and it is impossible for us to warranty product when it has passed through a reseller).

Now, "not offering support" does not mean that you can not file a webcase. We are not going to check a part's pedigree for a webcase (unless it runs out that the part has been mis-marked, or mishandled -- see below). What it means is that if there is an issue with one of these resold parts, we do not honor the warranty, as the parts have passed out of the accepted 'chain of control'.

Something as simple as parts being unpacked, allowed to absorb moisture, and then sent off to a reseller, who then sends them to some poor user, who then assembles them without a proper re-bake, and has the packages "blow up" due to the water turning to steam in the solder reflow process is what we are concerned with, and what we have seen There are other issues with ESD, and other items that often can go wrong when parts are not handled properly.

I am sure if Francesco has enough friends, he might find a few parts to help him out? But to kit a full production run may be a tough thing to do on a moment's notice.

And, if you do get parts from a reseller, assume they need a full re-bake, regardless of how "well" they are packaged. You may want to test them before you use them, too.

(Even if you get them from your friends....)

There are (bad) people out there who remark good parts (up the speed grade) so they can make more money, and also folks who take parts that are not even our FPGAs, and remark them as Xilinx FPGAs. So in general, unless you have had a successful history with a reseller, Caveat Emptor!

Austin

Austin Lesea schrieb:

Austin,

just short comment to your post - careful here:

to what I know buying from Avnet and simply reselling the IC's will get you into trouble. It's not related to Xilinx anyhow. But there have been cases where entities bying from disties have sold below the disti prices - and you can imagine that want make the disties very happy. I dont have the 'fine print' handy but I am relativly sure there is something that at least tries to prevent that parts purchased from disti are only purchased for re-re-sale.

Sure if you have some parts overstocked and have sold them once then it's still ok.

Antti

Antti,

I am sure that there are those who try to make money by buying and selling (called "horse traders" in English). And I am sure that they are a headache for just about anyone who is trying to meet all their obligations, warranties, etc. as a supplier. Even more of a headache if you are trying to buy from one.

As for what is legal, and what is not, I will leave that to the lawyers (as it varies by country, region, etc.). I am not a lawyer.

My only point was that if someone did find a source of Xilinx FPGAs, not through an authorized distributor, the "worst" that can happen is that they get bogus parts. The best that can happen, is that they really are as marked, and they work.

Our only concern is that if someone wants to send one back on an RMA for analysis and replacement, they will get a "gee, you have been had" if it turns out to be a part from someone else, with its markings sanded off, and counterfeit Xilinx markings painted on...(something I have seen!). If it is our part, but it has passed out of the authorized chain of control (we do check on RMAs), then we can not honor the warranty. 'Pop-corn' packages are often the result of mis-handling as I described, and we are not going to replace the parts under warranty!

Austin

Austin Lesea schrieb:

so PLEASE PLEASE open up again online shop :) for those who are in a hurry to get prototypes done!

Antti

It would be even better if Xilinx would supply all of their devices through distributors like Farnell, Digikey, etc, etc, etc. I prefer to buy from these type of companies (one stop shopping) or manufacturors directly. Distributors usually aren't any cheaper when you buy large quantities.

Digikey do have some Virtex-4 and Spartan-3. They are even a reasonable place to buy Platform Flash.

There are a number of grey market suppliers. We get them regularly trying to sell to us but do take heed of Austin's comments in the previous post.

As to legal the biggest problem is actually export control regarding onward shipping. This is especially true if you are a company that either is US based or has subsiduary within US control. If you fall foul of EAR (someone please in the exact words) there can be very severe finacial penalties and I believe even jail for office holders. Not supplying to the wrong persion or organisation does take some sorting out. There is a document, in very small text and 500 pages or so, of names of people and organisations that are deemed dubious to supply anything to.

John Adair Enterpo> "Antti" wrote: