(pressebox) (Poing, 2011-08-23) SILICA today announced that it will host a series of SpeedWay Design Workshops(TM) featuring the low-cost Xilinx® Spartan®-6 FPGA LX9 MicroBoard in Europe including Germany, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and Italy. The European workshops are part of a global technical tour launched by Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT). Available courses and dates can be viewed at the SpeedWay website.

Combining instructor-led courses with hands-on workshops, these full or half-day technical sessions feature a range of topics designed to teach engineers everything from the basics of FPGA design to best-practices for integrating Xilinx's MicroBlaze(TM) soft processor core. Taught by Avnet's technical specialists, these courses are geared towards engineers at all levels including: designers who are new to FPGAs; those looking to enhance or update their capabilities with Xilinx's suite of development tools; and those looking to implement embedded processing designs using Xilinx's Software Development Kit (SDK) environment or the AMBA®4 Advanced Extensible Interface (AXI4(TM) ).

These global SpeedWay Design Workshops, focused on the Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA LX9 MicroBoard, feature the following courses, depending on location: Introduction to Xilinx FPGA Design: This one-day course teaches design engineers the basics of FPGA architectures, development tools and design techniques. Designers will leave knowing the steps required to implement successful FPGA designs in a wide range of applications.

Introduction to MicroBlaze Processor Software Development Using the Xilinx SDK: This one-day course explores the process of developing software for the MicroBlaze processor within the Xilinx Software Development Kit. This class covers the step-by-step process of running software developed for the MicroBlaze processor using the Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA LX9 MicroBoard.

Introduction to MicroBlaze Processor Software Development Using the Xilinx Embedded Development Kit (EDK): This one-day course details the hardware and software development flows for creating a complete MicroBlaze processor embedded design using the Xilinx Spartan-6 LX9 MicroBoard and the Xilinx EDK. In this course, attendees will use the AXI4 interface standard and its ecosystem for adopting their intellectual property.

These seminars are free to attend. Attendees will receive special offers on the Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA LX9 MicroBoard and Xilinx's EDK software.

Watch a demonstration of the Spartan-6 LX9 MicroBoard from this year's Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, Calif. or view a video about these training sessions.

About Avnet Silica (An Avnet Company): Silica, an Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) company, is one of the leading semiconductor distributors in Europe. Silica accelerates its customers' success by connecting 25 technology suppliers with a broad base of more than 15,000 customers and providing in-depth design support and cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For more information, visit www.silica.com