Xilinx Unveils Vitis, Breakthrough Open-Source Design Software For Adaptable Processing Engines

The configurable, adaptable nature of FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), as well system-on-chip architectures that employ them, make the technology invaluable in a multitude of applications, from AI-powered data centers to smart edge devices and the IoT. As part of its evolving strategy, Silicon Valley bellwether Xilinx has been integrating this adaptive technology into platform accelerator solutions for machine learning, as well as domain specific architecture solutions that incorporate various compute resources like ARM cores, high speed IO and even RF functions. One of the issues with modern heterogeneous compute architectures like this today, however, is that they're difficult for the average software developer to work with. You have to have a lot of hardware expertise to understand how to best utilize the various compute resources in modern systems, from CPUs to GPUs and FPGAs. However, today, Xilinx has announced a new, free, open source tool it calls Vitis.