SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX - news) and Alcatel (NYSE:ALA - news) today announced the immediate availability of the Alcatel Gigabit and 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC) cores for use in Xilinx(R) Virtex(R)-II family of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The MAC cores support the layer 2 protocol for Ethernet transfer per the IEEE 802.3 standards for networking devices such as routers, switches, printers, DSL and cable modems. "The Alcatel Ethernet MAC cores are recognized as a de-facto standard in the ASIC market and now Xilinx customers have access to these widely used and industry-proven designs," said Mark Bowlby, AllianceCORE program manager at Xilinx. "With the addition of these cores, Xilinx and its partners now offer the largest portfolio of Ethernet connectivity solutions in the FPGA industry." "Alcatel is pleased to provide its MAC core technology for use in Xilinx Virtex-II family of FPGAs," said Alan Amrod, vice president of North America enterprise marketing, Alcatel. "By working with Xilinx, a leading provider of FPGA technology, Alcatel will be able to further deploy its Ethernet MAC cores to the networking market." In a separate release: Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX - news), today announced its membership in the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), a non-profit organization chartered with accelerating the adoption of optical Ethernet as the technology of choice for metro networks worldwide. In addition to enhancing worldwide awareness of the benefits of Ethernet services and Ethernet-based metro transport networks, MEF also facilitates the implementation of new and existing standards, Ethernet service definition, test procedures and technical specifications of the MEF to allow delivery of Ethernet services and enable carrier-class Ethernet-based metro networks. "Our membership in the MEF allows us to provide insights and solutions to help accelerate time-to-market for metro area networking applications," said Robert Bielby, senior director of Strategic Solutions Marketing for Xilinx. "At our Metro Optical Networking Forum on July 25, 2002, MEF will highlight its technology and its role in the optical networking space." Xilinx Inc. Alcatel SA Metro Ethernet Forum