FPGA will play an important role in enabling the Long Term Evolution of Telecom technology.
FPGA has now available across a wide range of power consumption, speed and LUTs (Look Up Tables) or a number of Programmable Logic elements. Thus FPGA can be used for experimentation at both the ends of Telecom; That is, at the handset end and at the network end.
FPGA, in conjunction with hard IP (Intellectual Property) blocks fused in, like DSP and OTN blocks, are getting into vogue. Actel, for example has launched Smart Fusion product that has fused in three layers of different silicon technologies, Analog circuitry, a Microprocessor (ARM Cortex M3) and a FPGA into a single chip.
As it is widely acknowledged, Processors and FPGA are different animals, so, synthesizing processors into a FPGA may not be a hot selling idea, but its useful for experimental implementation and design optimization.
FPGA can play a critical role in the processor design process cycle, adoption and as a GTM (Go To Market) strategy. For example, Intel has a FPGA synthesizable version of its Atom processor, see the ACM paper...
OpenSPARC is also FPGA synthesizable.
The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.