It looks like Xilinx has decided to introduce something that common folks can actually use and play around with:
https://www.xilinx.com/news/media-kits/xilinx-expands-into-new-applications-with-cost-optimized-ultrascale-portfolio.html There is a presentation PDF which is worth going over if you're interested.
I wonder what they are going to cost. For Zynq, since cheapest existing Zynq ZU2 goes for US$270, ZU1 has got to be cheaper than that, which kind of goes into regular Zynq-020 pricing territory. So seeing how ZU1 is not that much smaller than ZU2, I would expect high-100 to low-200 US$ for ZU2.
But I'm personally much more excited for new Artix US+ devices, as they have a potential to offer a great platform for interfacing with DAC/ADC via JESD204B interface, which often go into 16Gbps territory, as well as PCI Express 4.0 support, and NATIVE support for MIPI and LVDS for up to 2500 Mbps per pin pair, as well as my personal favorite - support for DDR4-2400! It it not explicitly mentioned in the press release (or I missed it) if these devices are going to be available in free Webpack license, but if their history is anything to go by, they include their entire "Cost-optimized" (as they call it
) portfolio in that free package. And - again, the question of price. Right now the cheapest Kintex US+ is over US$1100 on DK, so there is a big hole in the segment and they will likely eventually introduce enough devices to fill entire 200-1000 market segment. So if I were to guess, I'd say between US$100 and 200 for the smallest density on Digikey. It's cool that they now offering a single package 676 balls@1mm pitch with a vertical scalability across entire family, with full 16.3Gbps transceivers.
What do you guys think?