PLDA GROUP Launches QuickStore, a Unique Online Marketplace for Developers and Users of FPGA Accelerators, Which Complements QuickPlay and Drastically Reduces the Barriers to FPGA Adoption

Today, PLDA GROUP announces the launch of its QuickStore online marketplace where QuickPlay users can select FPGA IP from multiple vendors to be used within their FPGA designs. QuickStore is a critical element of the QuickPlay strategy to bring FPGA design to a large audience of developers, way beyond the traditional pool of FPGA experts.

“I feel PLDA is onto something with QuickPlay” said Dick Selwood of EEJournal. "But a great tool is typically not enough, and PLDA’s focus on the ecosystem, rather than just a standalone tool, is a shrewd decision, which should give PLDA an edge in a difficult, yet fast-growing market."

Today, the use of IP in FPGA designs is a challenge for most users:

• Finding the right IP is a long process that often requires interactions with numerous IP vendors
• Integrating IP can be difficult and costly when having to navigate documentation, customization options, and heterogeneous user interfaces
• Evaluating IP in hardware is often limited or impractical, based on a predefined configuration or part of a specific design that are far from the conditions of the final deployment

IP vendors must cope with these challenges, consequently focusing on servicing a small number of high-value customers and ignoring a large number of smaller customers.

The objective with QuickStore is to provide developers with IP that is easy to integrate and evaluate in QuickPlay, affordable to license, and therefore at reach of all potential users. For this QuickStore offers:

• Simple access: a growing selection of IP from multiple vendors directly available to all QuickPlay users in application domains such as datacenter, vision, imaging.
• Effortless integration: The Plug and Play nature of QuickPlay guaranties seamless connection of IP, and simplifies integration of new IP.
• Push-button evaluation: QuickPlay offers a built-in try-before-you-buy that enhances users’ confidence in their IP selection and security for the IP vendor.
• Direct purchase: QuickStore offers a simple one stop shop where QuickPlay users can procure multiple IP from multiple vendors at once.
• Flexible licensing: QuickPlay changes the paradigm for IP sales as it offers a pay as you go mechanism. The simplified sales process and reduced support effort enable IP vendors to fully leverage QuickPlay’s runtime licensing model. Customers pay per instantiation of the IP and are therefore not penalized by the traditional high upfront cost of IP.

All in all, QuickStore enables IP offering to meet IP demand in a way that was not possible before. For IP vendors QuickStore offers Intellectual Property Protection, ensuring that their valuable IP will not get lost or be misused, and Business Protection, ensuring that they will get remunerated according to the usage of their IP. For FPGA users QuickStore provides access to high value IP that were out of reach of many engineers because of their upfront cost and their complexity to integrate.
The combination of QuickPlay and QuickStore puts the barriers to FPGA adoption lower than ever before: QuickPlay for its true Software-Defined approach to FPGA design, and QuickStore for enabling an ecosystem that bridges the gap between vendors of FPGA design pieces and developers of FPGA enabled applications.

“When we launched QuickPlay in early 2015 it was clear that this tool had the potential to bring the FPGA devices at reach of a much larger community of developers” said Gael Paul, CTO and Chief Architect for QuickPlay, “but it was also clear that reducing the barriers to adoption of IP was going to be as critical an element in the offering. I am proud to see this vision becoming a reality today with QuickStore.”

As of today QuickStore contains IP from ALSE, Auviz Systems, CAST, Concurrent EDA, Crucial IP, Enyx and Image Matters. Work is currently ongoing to add IP from additional vendors in the near future.
IP vendors interested to join the QuickAlliance and make their IP available on the QuickStore marketplace should contact the partnership group at alliance@quickplay.io
Users looking to learn more about QuickPlay, QuickStore and interested to start a QuickPlay project can visit http://www.quickplay.io or sign up for a QuickPlay account at http://quickstore.quickplay.io

Product Availability:
QuickPlay v2.1 is available today and supports numerous boards from Xilinx, ReFLEX and Image Matters. More FPGA platforms are being considered. The tool can be evaluated at no cost. Please visit QuickPlay online at www.quickplay.io or contact the QuickPlay team for details.

About QuickPlay
QuickPlay is a PLDA GROUP (www.pldagroup.com) brand that aims to accelerate the adoption of FPGA-based reconfigurable hardware in IT infrastructures by opening up FPGA design to non-hardware experts. The QuickPlay software IDE enables developers with different engineering backgrounds to model, design, debug, and deploy FPGA hardware as their end product or as a part of their final system, all without FPGA expertise, and without the pain and time traditionally associated with FPGA design. QuickPlay features a pure graphical and C/C++ design methodology that abstracts the hardware design and debug process, streamlines the mapping of the FPGA design on the hardware target, and completely hides the details of hardware implementation, for a user experience that compares with traditional software programming. QuickPlay is the result of years of research in the field of High-Level Design (HLD) and High-Level Synthesis (HLS) combined with PLDA GROUP strong expertise in FPGA hardware and IP design. QuickPlay enables leading technology companies to rip the benefits of FPGA without the pain, in domains such as Cloud computing, Vision, A/V broadcast, data center networking, HPC and more.

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