AGERE INTRODUCES FLEXMAP FOR ACCESS NETWORKS.

Agere Systems Inc. (NYSE:AGR.A)(NYSE:AGR.B) has introduced the two newest members of its FlexMap family -- Hypermapper and Hypermapper Lite -- which improve the speed and performance of wired and wireless access networks by four times over earlier Agere solutions. Agere has begun shipping sample quantities of both devices this month, with volume production expected in March, 2003.

The FlexMap family of mappers extends Agere's Supermapper and Ultramapper products, making Agere the industry's premier, one-stop shop for high-performance mapper devices for multi-service access networks.

The fourth-generation Hypermapper is the industry's densest, single-device mapper with an integrated add-drop multiplexer (ADM) capability, enabling higher performance, functionality and speed, while reducing space, development cost and time. Ultramapper was the industry's first mapper to include ADM.

Mappers are integrated circuits (ICs) that prepare data from analog phone lines for transmission through higher-speed digital optical networks. Hypermapper is targeted to network edge applications where voice and data lines come together, such as multi-service network access systems, 3G wireless radio network controllers, access concentrators and voice gateways.

Agere also introduced its HypermapperLite, a lower-cost version of Hypermapper, targeted for applications ranging from higher-bandwidth voice (T1/E1) lines to higher-speed optical network [SONET/SDH (STS-12/STM4)] rates .

In today's capex-constrained business environment, system vendors and service providers are looking for solutions that can support more channels, lines and ports, while using less space, to meet relentless bandwidth demand and to help reduce the bottleneck at the network edge. They also want equipment that is flexible enough to handle multiple services, access points and speeds as well as higher capacity data loads.

The aggregation of analog phone-based voice/data (T3/E3) onto digital optical network (SONET/SDH) tributaries has become a key vendor strategy in the networking business today, as well as delivering more data from the edge of metropolitan and access networks to the core. Agere's Hypermapper meets this need by enabling more connections per board and bandwidth using the same or less space than existing, older solutions. It is the only product that allows 24 digital channels representing analog voice lines (DS3s) to be mapped asynchronously to equivalent optical network rates.

With Agere's Hypermapper, it is now possible for system vendors to build high-density, multi-use, configurable systems faster, more easily and cost-effectively," said Samir Samhouri, applications and marketing director for Agere's Access and Transport division.

According to CIBC World Markets, the overall market size for mapper devices is over $300 million in 2002 and will grow to over $600 million by 2006. Market indicators point to a growing demand for higher-density equipment, the ability to migrate from OC-12 (622 megabits-per-second) to OC- 48 (2.5 Gbits/s) speeds, support for virtual private networks (VPN), wired and wireless local area networks (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN).

In the WAN semiconductor market, Agere is the market leader, holding the no. 1 position in transmission ICs and T/E carrier ICs, according to a 2002 report from Dataquest/Gartner Inc.. Agere also owns double-digit market shares in the SONET/SDH spaces. "Leveraging our expertise in developing systems for optical networking and our comprehensive portfolio of communications devices and IP, Agere is well-positioned to win by providing the lowest cost and power per port mapper solutions to our customers," said Samhouri.

Hypermapper works with Agere's recently introduced MARS (Multi-Application and Rate Solutions) family of devices, the industry's most integrated and versatile framers, as well as Agere's entire portfolio of line card solutions for multi-service metropolitan and access networks.

"Agere's Hypermapper was specifically designed to provide a cost-effective solution to handle increased voice and data applications and address our customers' need for higher-capacity, higher-density solutions," said Samhouri. "It simplifies what is normally a highly complex process of system design by allowing customers to design one line card with multi-function components which can be used in a variety of applications," he said. "This helps reduce system re-design and development time and expense, with a simple, easy-to- implement plug-and-play solution that significantly improves time-to-market."

Hypermapper technical information

Manufactured in 0.14 micron process technology running at 1.5 volts, Hypermapper is a true system-on-chip (SoC) which performs mapping, multiplexing, de-multiplexing and framing of one STS-12, four STS-3, 12 STS-1 or AU3, 24 DS3 or E3 channels. It includes all of the functions necessary to convert plesiosynchronous digital hierarchy (PDH) carrier traffic to SONET/SDH traffic in one device. Hypermapper is also the industry's highest-density solution for STS-12/STM4 applications that aggregate data into a single digital voice channel. Competitive offerings do not include either the SONET/SDH interface, or full T1/E1/J1 framing capabilities.

Key features of Hypermapper include its flexible STS-1 input cross-connect, 336 T1-J1/ 252 E1 framers, 12 M13 muxes, 336/252 VT/TU mappers, 24 SPE/AU- 3 mappers and 24 DS3/E3 ports for mapping up to 24 DS3/E3s into STS1/TUG3s.

Key functions include: SONET/SDH termination at OC-3 or OC-12; STS12 pointer-processor for ADM applications; cross-connect for up to 12 STS1/STM0s' worth of virtual tributary/tributary units (VT/TUs) and full DS0/E0 mapping capability. Hypermapper aggregates up to 8064 DS0s, 336/252 DS1/E1s or 24 DS3/E3 channels and maps them for transport over OC-3/OC-12 SONET/SDH.

HypermapperLite has all of the features and functionality of Hypermapper but excludes the DS0/E0 mapping capability. The complete integration of SONET/SDH and PDH protocols in Hypermapper enables a smooth transition to higher bandwidth SONET/SDH backbones for channelized voice and data. Since it is backwards-compatible with Agere's Ultramapper, Hypermapper supports faster migration to higher performance and integration. It also simplifies and eases system design with its rich feature set including path protection switching, global framing support, on-device cross-connects and synchronous byte-mapping/GR303 support.

Hypermapper is supported by a comprehensive suite of Agere software, reference designs, evaluation boards and development tools. Its software is a hardware abstraction layer that can be easily ported to the most common micro- processors including the PowerPC. The FlexMap family of devices includes Ultramapper, UltramapperLite, Supermapper, SupermapperLite, Superframer and Tmapper.

Pricing

Agere expects to price Hypermapper (TMXF33625) at $1500 each in 1000-unit quantities. The company also expects to price HypermapperLite (TMXL33625) at $900 each in 1000-unit quantities.

For more information, customers may visit Agere's Web site at http://www.agere.com/ or contact one of Agere's regional sales offices. Customers in the U.S. may also call the Agere Systems Customer Response Center at 800/372-2447 and ask for Dept. A68. Customers in Canada may call 800/553-2448. Customers outside those countries may call 610/712-4323. Fax inquiries may be directed to 610/712-4106, or email queries to [e-mail]. Written inquiries should be sent to Agere Systems, Room 10A-301C, 1110 American Parkway NE, Lehigh Valley Central Campus, Allentown, PA, 18109, USA .

Agere Systems is a provider of advanced integrated circuit solutions that access, move and store network information. Agere's access portfolio enables seamless network access and Internet connectivity through its WiFi/802.11 solutions for wireless LANs and computing applications, as well as its GPRS offering for data-capable cellular phones. The company also provides custom and standard multi-service networking solutions , such as broadband Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH components and wireless infrastructure devices, to move information across metro, access and enterprise networks. Agere is a provider of integrated circuits such as read-channel devices, preamplifiers and system-on-a-device solutions for high-density storage applications. Agere's customers include the leading PC manufacturers, wireless terminal providers, network equipment suppliers and hard-disk drive providers.

Agere Systems can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.agere.com/.

For more information, call 408/980-3860.