National Semiconductor and Quellan Form Alliance to Design and Market 10 Gbps Interconnect Devices; New Family of Equalizers Addresses Need for High Speed, Low-Power Solutions That Open the Interconnect Bottleneck.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and ATLANTA -- SANTA CLARA, Calif. and ATLANTA, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- National Semiconductor Corporation , the premier analog company driving the information age, and Quellan Incorporated, a privately held signal processing company, today announced a strategic alliance to deliver 10-Gigabit per second (Gbps) interconnect solutions. With target applications in the server, networking and storage markets, these next generation integrated circuits are designed to open the interconnect bottleneck by providing more bandwidth and longer distance benefits while using less power than existing solutions. In addition to working with Quellan, National has invested in the privately held start-up company to speed development and delivery of advanced interconnect devices to National's worldwide customer base.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020705/NSCLOGO )

This alliance leverages the intellectual property of both companies. National provides analog, mixed-signal, manufacturing and marketing expertise, while Quellan offers world-class expertise in collaborative signal processing, which combines adaptive equalization, advanced modulation and noise cancellation.

"Quellan's technology achieves the greatest interconnect reach per watt at speeds of 10 Gbps and beyond," said Michael Noonen, vice president of National's Wired Communications Group. "Unlike other solutions on the market, this addresses multiple interconnect needs: chip-to-chip, blade-to-blade and box-to-box. The combination of Quellan's innovations and National Semiconductor's analog IC design capability will allow us to create products that dramatically increase communication bandwidth and distance with less power consumption."

Marketed under National's name, products from the partnership will include several families of devices, including equalizers, transceivers and noise cancellers. They will be optimized for interconnections in systems such as enterprise applications and communications infrastructure equipment, and provide data rates that are 10 times faster than existing technologies. The equalizers compensate for electrical signal loss in bandwidth limited signaling channels. Target applications are backplane and cables with data transfer rates from 3.125 to 6.25 Gbps, and coax cable applications for HDTV studio production equipment. The first product will sample in the third quarter of 2003.

"With the relentless increases in network density and bandwidth, getting interconnects to run at 5 and 10 Gbps is becoming a mandatory requirement for equipment manufacturers," said Tony Stelliga, chairman and CEO of Quellan. "While this is a substantial challenge, it provides Quellan and National Semiconductor with an exciting opportunity. The modulation, equalization and cancellation techniques used in our collaborative signal processing devices will provide a winning solution when coupled with National's advanced CMOS process and worldwide channels."

About Quellan

Quellan, based in Atlanta, GA., designs and develops integrated circuits for high-speed communications equipment. Quellan's solutions increase bandwidth, lower costs, and reduces time-to-market for its clients by utilizing a combination of signal processing expertise and high frequency analog, digital and mixed signal design experience in its integrated circuit product development. Quellan's core technology comes from advanced mixed signal research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Initial funding for Quellan Incorporated came from Cordova Intellimedia Ventures, L.P., Greenspring Ventures, LLC, ITU Ventures, LLC., The University Financing Foundation, Inc., Steve Chaddick, and the Yamacraw Seed Capital Fund III LLC. Quellan Incorporated is a leading-edge communications technology chipmaker. Additional information about Quellan Incorporated is available at http://www.quellan.com/ .

About National Semiconductor

National Semiconductor is the premier analog company driving the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of-the-art digital technology, the company is focused on analog-based semiconductor products, which include stand-alone devices and subsystems in the areas of power management, imaging, display drivers, audio, amplifiers and data conversion. The company targets key markets such as wireless, displays, information infrastructure and a broad range of portable applications. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $1.5 billion for its most recent fiscal year. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.national.com/.

NOTE: National Semiconductor is a registered trademark of National Semiconductor Corporation. All other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Mike He of National Semiconductor, [phone], or [e-mail]; or Peter Francis of Quellan Incorporated, [phone], or [e-mail]

Web site: http://www.quellan.com/

Web site: http://www.national.com/