CORRECTION: AMI MegaRAID and Intel i960 RD I/O Processor.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 1997-- -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI) today corrected and clarified a press release made in conjunction with Intel Corporation on February 5, 1997.

A February 3, 1997 quote from Intel Vice President and General Manager of Computing Enhancement Group Ron Smith was inadvertently used from an Intel press release. While the contents of the quote were correct, it referred only to the Intel i960 RD I/O Processor and the quote was not intended for use in an AMI press release.

The correct quote, from Alan Steinberg, General Manager, Intel Enterprise Computing I/O Operation, also appeared in the AMI press release.

The corrected version of the press release will be re-released today for clarification purposes: -0-

AMI First to Utilize Intel i960 RD I/O to Double Processing Speed

of MegaRAID and RAID on Motherboard Solutions

MegaRAID to Increase Throughput and Ability for

I2O-Ready Systems via Intel i960 RD I/O

In conjunction with Intel Corporation's announcement of the i960 RD I/O microprocessor, American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI) released that its MegaRAID on motherboard solutions and several new MegaRAID controllers will be the first RAID products to incorporate the speed doubling performance of the i960 RD I/O.

"The i960 RD I/O alongside our current i960 solutions will offer our customers faster performance from a cadre of MegaRAID controllers and MegaRAID on motherboard solutions that offer the fastest performance in the industry," AMI Vice President of Research & Development Paresh Chatterjee said. "We will maximize every performance advantage that the i960 RD I/O offers and also leverage its power to provide enhanced I2O solutions across our MegaRAID product lines."

The new i960 RD I/O processor is a high-performance, dedicated I/O subsystem incorporated directly into the MegaRAID controller or intelligent upgrade card for MegaRAID on motherboard. Similar to the channel processor in a mainframe computer, the I/O subsystem redirects interrupt-intensive I/O tasks away from the host CPU and frees host resources such as memory and system buses, resulting in faster overall system performance and throughput. The intelligent I/O subsystem also allows I/O to increase with processor performance increases.

The i960 RD I/O processor that will be onboard MegaRAID integrates a 2.1 PCI-to-PCI bridge with an i960 RISC processor core. The new chip offers low-power (3.3-volt) performance, using 40 percent less power than the previous I/O processor version.

Also integrated into the processor to be used by MegaRAID controllers is a messaging unit, two address translation units, three-channel DMA controller, integrated memory controller, and an I/O advanced programmable interrupt controller bus interface unit. Other features of the i960 RD I/O processor include 66 MHz performance, 4 Kbytes two-way associative instruction cache, 2 Kbytes direct mapped data cache and 1 Kbyte on-chip data RAM, in an SBGA package.

The i960 RD I/O processor will enhance the I2O performance of MegaRAID via its increased processing ability. The Intelligent I/O (I2O) architecture is a common I/O framework that provides a robust, extensible, driver interface for servers and adapter cards and increases interoperability and integration of storage and network interfaces in the enterprise-computing environment. Version 1.5 of the architecture supports peer-to-peer technology, which allows peer I/O devices to communicate directly, bypassing the host CPU and independent of the network operating system.

"The performance and headroom of the new i960 RD I/O processor will expand the range of servers integrating RAID solutions like AMI's MegaRAID," said Alan Steinberg, general manager, Intel Enterprise Computing I/O Operation. "These kinds of RAID solutions will be critical to the enterprise computing environment and valuable to IT managers."

American Megatrends and its MegaRAID team is an active member of the I2O Special Interest Group founded by Intel and including more than 90 companies as members.

MegaRAID serves as the technology leading RAID controller onboard the servers of the foremost server companies. The MegaRAID's accolades include the fastest throughput and widest spectrum of high-level RAID features including:

-- the industry's first and only cluster ready RAID;

-- FlexRAID on-line capacity expansion and RAID level migration;

-- SMARTer (System Management and Reporting Technologies

with Error Recovery) technology; and

-- a full set of dynamic RAID management utilities including

support for SNMP and DMI.

Additional information on MegaRAID can be attaining by calling 1-800-828-9264 or visiting the MegaRAID web site at http://www.megaraid.com .

In over half the computers in the world, American Megatrends specializes in creating superior, system level technologies including desktop BIOS, mobile BIOS, RAID products, motherboards, and utilities. For additional information, AMI can be reached at (800) U-BUY-AMI or [phone] and on the World Wide Web at http://www.ami.com .

CONTACT: AMI Marketing Manager

Joe P. Leader, 770/246-8600 or 800/828-9264

FAX: [phone]

email: [e-mail]