Avnet and Xilinx establish the first lab of Programmable Logic Solutions in a Singapore tertiary educational institute
(Top News, 23 Jan 2008 )
Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of the leading global distributor of electronic components, Avnet, Inc, together with Xilinx, Inc., a leading supplier of programmable logic solutions are investing in Singapore education by providing hands-on experience for engineering students at Singapore's Republic Polytechnic via a specially designed training lab.
The lab is funded by Xilinx while Avnet Electronics Marketing is providing experienced field applications engineers to conduct all the training including monthly workshops for students as well as customers. At the lab students and faculty members will have the opportunity to undertake training and workshops on a variety of topics including the development of various end-user applications as well as embedded system design.
"Avnet recognises that meeting the educational needs of young people requires more than just providing them with technical knowledge. It is also important for them to learn to become innovative problem solvers," commented Andy Wong, senior director of segment marketing and design service, Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia. "The Republic Polytechnic lab will offer a unique opportunity for students to better understand the latest technology innovations in the rapidly changing world of FPGAs and equip them with the practical knowledge necessary to tackle design challenges they may encounter when they embark on their own careers."
"The establishment of the RP Xilinx Programmable Logic Solutions Lab will provide the necessary infrastructure for both staff and students to embark on exciting development work in areas such as digital entertainment systems, portable multimedia devices and hardware acceleration for human-machine interaction. We aim to develop this lab into a premier lab in programmable logic solutions, harnessing capabilities of students, staff and industry to break new ground in the innovation application of FPGA solutions," commented Mr. Fong Yew Chan, Director of School of Engineering, Republic Polytechnic.
"The Republic Polytechnic is geared towards technical education and together with our strategic partner, Xilinx, we are thrilled to be able to offer our expertise and help foster the education of local students," said Keith Lam, regional president of Avnet Electronics Marketing in South Asia.
"The joint labs will be a perfect complement to the ‘problem-based learning’ philosophy practised at Republic Polytechnic. Students will be able to develop their engineering skills by using the industry’s leading silicon and software tools to tackle realistic audio and video design projects for digital entertainment applications ”said Simon Ho, Xilinx corporate solutions marketing manager, Xilinx Asia Pacific“As the worldwide leading programmable solution provider, Xilinx is committed to educating future engineers in Singapore and the whole Asia market with continuous increasing of programmable technology requirement "
This latest project between Avnet Electronics Marketing and Xilinx comes after the successful X-Fest global series of technical seminars that kicked off in China in 2007 and rolled out across Asia and on to the US and Europe.
