American Megatrends joins the HyperTransport Technology Consortium.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

July 16, 2002

Editorial Summary

-- AMI to Join HyperTransport Technology Consortium

-- AMIBIOS8 will support HyperTransport technology

AMI, a leader in storage and computing innovations worldwide, today announced it has joined the HyperTransport Technology Consortium to endorse its high-speed connectivity technology with AMIBIOS8.

HyperTransport is a high-speed, low-lantency, chip-to-chip interconnection used by high-performance computer systems. This technology enables chips to transfer data at peak rates of up to 12.8 Gigabytes per second, providing a dramatic increase in bandwidth over legacy buses and bridges.

HyperTransport is compatible with legacy PC buses, is extensible to System Network Architecture buses and software compatible with the PCI bus standard. HyperTransport reduces I/O bottlenecks by providing a point-to-point interconnection between system components.

Future high-end processors and chipsets from AMD will utilize HyperTransport technology. AMIBIOS8 enabling firmware is available for the upcoming Opteron and eighth generation Athlon processors, that rely on HyperTransport to maximize memory bandwidth. Nvidia Corporation has adopted HyperTransport for its nForce chipset, which is also supported by AMIBIOS8.

"By supporting HyperTransport, AMIBIOS and AMIBIOS8 will continue to provide our customers with fast, reliable and cost-effective BIOS technology enabling desktop, mobile and server PCs. AMI is cooperating with relevant industry players to give our customers faster time to market and solutions at the edge of technology," said Mike Shields, AMI Global Software Sales Manager.

"American Megatrends is a welcome addition to the HyperTransport Consortium," said Gabriele Sartori, president of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium. "AMIBIOS8 firmware will enable silicon devices that incorporate HyperTransport technology to deliver substantial bandwidth gains and increased performance. Gaining the support and participation of key technology enablers like AMI will help the HyperTransport I/O Link specification to evolve and demonstrates that industry movement toward the widespread adoption of HyperTransport technology is firmly in place."

AMIBIOS8 brings developers the advantage of stable firmware that incorporates 15 years of experience, a truly modular architecture based on a manageable file structure and Visual eBIOS, a friendly visual development environment. AMIBIOS8 eModules support the latest technologies like ACPI, USB 2.0, SMBIOS, EFI32, ASF, Serial Redirection and Serial Flash.

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 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.

About HyperTransport Technology

HyperTransport technology is a high-speed, high-performance, point-to-point link for integrated circuits, and is designed to meet the bandwidth needs of tomorrow's computing and communications platforms. HyperTransport technology helps reduce the number of buses while providing a high-performance link for PCs, workstations, and servers, as well as numerous embedded applications and highly scalable multiprocessing systems.

About HyperTransport Technology Consortium

The HyperTransport Technology Consortium is a nonprofit corporation managed by its members. The consortium promotes the common business interests of providers to the networking, telecommunications, computer and high-performance embedded application through the conduct of a forum for the future development and adoption of the HyperTransport specification.

AMD, Apple Computers, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, NVIDIA, PMC-Sierra, SGI, Sun Microsystems and Transmeta are the charter members that comprise the Executive Committee of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium.

Companies interested in the HyperTransport specification are invited to join the consortium. Members of the consortium pay annual dues and receive a royalty-free license to HyperTransport IP, gain access to technical documentation and may attend consortium meetings and events. To become a member, visit the consortium Web site at www.hypertransport.org. Please review the Bylaws of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium, and complete the online membership application.

Statement of Liability: (c) 2002 American Megatrends Inc. Product specifications are subject to change without notice. Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. AMIBIOS, AMIDiag and AMIBOS8 are trademarks or registered trademarks of American MegaTrends, Inc. Other products mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. All rights reserved. No warranties are made, either express or implied, with regard to the contents of this work, its merchantability or fitness for a particular use. This publication contains proprietary information, which is protected by copyright. American Megatrends reserves the right to update, change and/or modify these products at anytime.