PLDA Continues North American Expansion with Launch of Austin Design Center.

AUSTIN, Texas -- PLDA, the industry's largest provider of IP cores for the logical and transport layers of PCI Express, PCI-X, and PCI*, today announced the launch of its new Austin Design Center.

Establishment of the Austin Design Center (or ADC) is the next step in PLDA's strategy to enhance the company's technical and executive presence in the North American market. The move follows the announcement last year of the relocation of PLDA cofounder and CTO Stephane Hauradou to San Jose, and the hiring of industry veteran Callan Carpenter as the VP of Business Development and North American Operations.

"The majority of PLDA's revenue comes from the North American market, but up until now our product development has taken place solely in Europe," explains Mr. Carpenter who is also director of the new design center. "With the addition of the ADC, we can take advantage of direct, local engineer-to-engineer exchanges with our US customers, and provide more timely customer support."

The new design center complements PLDA's European design teams by building upon the company's existing line of standards-based IP to offer application-specific solutions. "Our objective is to create more value for our customers by adding industry-specific layers to the existing IP product line," says Mr. Carpenter. "Expect to see the ADC deliver solutions targeted at specific vertical markets such as automotive, aerospace, communications and others. By placing product development personnel physically closer to the customers in those markets, we can gain a deeper understanding of their real requirements, and build the kind of long term relationships that are so key to success in this business."

PLDA has been a leader in the high-speed bus IP industry for ten years. Today, PLDA is the frontrunner in the PCI Express FPGA market space, and since the earliest introduction of the protocol the company has consistently listed products on the PCI-SIG integrator list. With over 200 PCI Express licenses sold and two families of PCI Express IP that support x1, x4, and x8 Lanes for Root Port, Endpoint, Bridge, and Switch configurations, PLDA is well positioned to maintain it's leadership position in the Intel-based bus protocol IP market.

About PLDA

PLDA has posted continual growth in profits and revenue for the last ten years designing and selling a wide range of ASIC and FPGA interfacing solutions for the PCI and derivative markets (PCI Express, PCI-X, and CompactPCI). The company has offices in the US and Europe and an international distribution network. It offers complete solutions, including IP cores, hardware, software, consulting services, and comprehensive technical support provided directly by the IP designers. For additional information about PLDA, please visit http://www.plda.com.

* A Guide to High-Speed Interconnects

Copyright 2006, The Linley Group, Inc.