American Megatrends Showcases AMIBIOS and System Management Solutions at Intel Developer Forum.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Intel Developer Forum 2003

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2003

Editorial Summary

-- AMI will demonstrate the MegaRAC PM management solution at IDF

Fall, San Jose McEnery convention center, booth 103

-- MegaRAC Platform Manager (PM) is an affordable answer to the

demand for "always-on" platform manageability based on IPMI 

1.5.

-- BMC support includes National Semiconductor Skipper and

Hitachi H8.

American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), a leader in computing innovations worldwide, presents its complete server management solution for server and embedded motherboards based on the IPMI 1.5 management standard.

MegaRAC Platform Manager (PM) is a complete, highly integrated management solution that will add high availability features to server motherboards. MegaRAC PM is based on easily portable management firmware that implements the IPMI v.1.5 standard developed by Intel, HP, NEC and Dell.

MegaRAC PM firmware support is available today for the National SemiconductorPC87435 (Skipper) and the Hitachi H8S/2168 (H8) baseboard management controllers (BMC).

MegaRAC PM monitors and controls the system and chassis subsystems, sending alerts and triggering correcting actions like reset and boot from a service partition. With MegaRAC PM, system administrators can remotely control a server system even when it is in non-operational state, performing a series of critical functions:

-- View and set thresholds for individual health parameters such

as voltage, temperature and fans and monitoring of the chassis

subsystems

-- Management of sensors and Field Replaceable Units (FRU)

-- Remote Control and Auto Server Recovery by setting a watchdog

timer

-- Remote launch of diagnostic/recovery services

MegaRAC PM is based on baseboard management controller (BMC) featuring a dedicated processor and memory. The controller features a dedicated serial interface and uses the existing motherboard Ethernet NIC for side-band LAN functionality while reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO).

The MegaRAC PM firmware is developed on a Real Time Operating System (RTOS) that abstracts the underlying hardware and can easily be ported to different chips. The MegaRAC PM firmware provides system and board management, utilizing the Intelligent Platform Management Bus (IPMB) to access any other controller within a chassis and to manage the Field Replaceable Units (FRU). The communication between different chassis is provided through the Intelligent Chassis Management Bus (ICMB), granting access to multiple devices.

MegaRAC PM is an affordable answer to the high-availability needs of server and server blades, that in today's 24/7 environment must provide continuous service in order to minimize downtime for mission-critical applications.

The web-based Unified Management Server (UMS) software provides manageability of multiple devices from a single station. Multiple communication protocols are supported. The software is portable to any operating system and is highly interoperable. Based on Java2EE, UMS can operate on a number of platforms, such as Windows NT, 2000, XP or Linux.

UMS discovers, configures, monitors, reports and manages events for all the nodes on a LAN. When used in conjunction with AMIBIOS8 and the AMIBMC, UMS provides advanced IPMI functions such as video redirection and BIOS/firmware flashing.

"MegaRAC PM is an ideal solution for OEMs and ODMs. The IPMI subsystem gives interoperability and remote manageability to servers, which can be accessed under all system phases: power-down, pre-boot, OS load and run-time. Our system management solution is the logical complement of our strength in server BIOS and remote management cards," said S. Shankar, AMI President and CEO.

"AMI and other members of the Intel(R) Communications Alliance provide critical building blocks that complement Intel's broad range of network infrastructure processors," said Bill Chalmers, Director of Embedded/Communication Software Solutions in the Embedded Intel Architecture Division. "AMIBIOS8 modular architecture, GUI development environment and advanced system management features enable cutting-edge platform support for embedded and server blade applications.

AMI will demonstrate AMIBIOS8 and MegaRAC PM solutions for embedded systems at the Intel Developer Forum, September 16-18 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. AMI will exhibit in the Intel Communications Alliance Community, booth 103. AMI is present at IDF as a part of the Intel Communications Alliance. Members of the Alliance are committed to the development of modular, standards based building blocks, platforms, and solutions based on Intel technologies.

About AMI

Founded in 1985, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) has dedicated its resources to providing OEMs, resellers and systems integrators with leading edge computer technologies. Privately held, AMI is best known for its AMIBIOS, but it also supplies state-of-the-art hardware, software and utilities to over 55 percent of today's high-tech manufacturers. AMI offers high-density motherboards, disk subsystems and innovative storage solutions and is a voting member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). Headquartered in Atlanta, AMI has locations in the U.S. and throughout the world including Chennai, Munich, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo to better serve its customers.

For more information on AMI products and services, call 1-800-U-BUY-AMI or visit www.ami.com.

Statement of Liability: (C) 2003 American Megatrends Inc. Product specifications are subject to change without notice. AMIBIOS, AMIDiag and AMIBIOS8 are trademarks or registered trademarks of American MegaTrends, Inc.

Other products mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

American Megatrends reserves the right to update, change and/or modify these products at anytime.