PMC-Sierra Announces Industry's Highest Density T1/E1 Solutions to Accelerate the Convergence of Copper and Optical Networks.

Business Editors, Technology Writers

Note to Editors: To view Figures and Photo, please go to

http://www.pmc-sierra.com/octliu

BURNABY, B.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2001

Three New Devices Support Channelized OC-3 Port Cards for Long-Haul

T1/E1/J1 Access with Twice the Density of

Previously Available Solutions

PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq:PMCS) today introduced three new copper interface solutions that deliver unprecedented T1/E1/J1 port density to multiservice optical access systems, edge routers, media gateways and wireless infrastructure equipment.

The PM4318 OCTLIU(TM) is the industry's highest density line interface unit supporting both long-haul and short-haul operations. The PM4332 TE-32(TM) is a full-featured, 32-channel T1/E1/J1 framer and the PM5366 TEMAP-84(TM) supports the mapping and multiplexing of 84 T1 or 63 E1 links. Collectively, this chip set provides the necessary density improvement to help accelerate the convergence of copper access and optical transport network.

Comprehensive T1/E1/J1 Solution for Optical Access Equipment

With an optical access system, local exchange carriers can leverage off available fiber optic cables to bring tremendous bandwidth to business users. Many of these customers still rely on the proven T1/E1/J1 interface to carry voice and data traffic over the optical network. TEMAP-84 and OCTLIUs can be used in a multiservice optical access system to drastically increase the number of T1/E1/J1 links that can be added or dropped on a single tributary port card (Figure 1).

"Multiservice Optical Access equipment is faced with the challenge of aggregating more T1/E1 lines onto the fiber network using the smallest possible form factor," said Phil Dietz, systems architect of Lucent Technologies. "This challenge can only be met using high density solutions such as TEMAP-84, TE-32 and OCTLIU", concluded Dietz.

Comprehensive T1/E1/J1 Solution for 3G Equipment

The TE-32 complements PMC-Sierra's COMET-QUAD(TM) and TEMUX-84 to provide the industry's most comprehensive T1/E1/J1 product family which is ideally suited for use in third-generation (3G) wireless equipment such as Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and Base Station Controller (BSC). The small number of T1/E1/J1 links required by BTS can be efficiently addressed with one or more COMET-QUADs. The OCTLIU and TE-32 combination can be used in a BSC to support a large number of copper interfaces. The SPECTRA(TM) and TEMUX-84 can be paired up to provide channelized fiber interface support for a large BSC with direct connection to an optical network (Figure 2).

"The new OCTLIU, TE-32 and TEMAP-84 chip set further extends PMC-Sierra's leadership position in providing all-density copper interface solutions," said Tom Sun, vice president and general manager of PMC-Sierra's Access Products Division. "These highly configurable devices reduce design efforts in the engineering phase and minimize inventory management at the time of production."

Improved Density and Scalability with Highly Integrated Chip Set

The PM4318 OCTLIU integrates longhaul and shorthaul drivers, jitter attenuators and enhanced diagnostic tools on to a single chip. It meets all global jitter requirements including AT&T TR 62411, ETSI TBR 12 and TBR 13. In addition to the Scaleable Bandwidth Interconnect (SBI) bus, the OCTLIU provides a single-rail or dual-rail clock and data interface for legacy connectivity.

The PM4332 TE-32 is a 32 channel framer supporting T1, E1 and J1 framing formats. This flexibility allows a single design to address a world market. On the system side, the TE-32 supports either an 8 Mbit/s H-MVIP or a 19.44 MHz SBI bus. The H-MVIP bus allows TE-32 to connect with a DS0 fabric or backplane commonly used in media gateways and remote access servers. The SBI bus allows TE-32 to interface with PMC-Sierra's high density data link layer devices such as AAL1gator(TM)-32, S/UNI(R)-IMA-84 and FREEDM(TM)-84A1024 for use in edge routers and multiservice switches (Figure 3).

The PM5366 TEMAP-84 integrates VT/TU mapping and multiplexing for 84 T1 or 63 E1 channels as well as 3 DS3 framers and M13 multiplexers. The TEMAP-84 also provides performance monitoring on a per link basis in either the ingress or egress path. Whereas other solutions use the rudimentary clock and data signals to connect the line interface unit with the framer device, the OCTLIU, TE-32 and TEMAP-84 use a pin-efficient SBI bus to provide a solution that can scale from a few T1/E1 links up to multiple OC-3s.

Pricing, Availability and Customer Support

The OCTLIU and TE-32 will be sampling in the third quarter of 2001. The TEMAP-84 is sampling now. The OCTLIU is packaged in a 23mm x 23mm, 288-pin tape-SBGA package and is priced at $68 through distribution. The TE-32 and TEMAP-84 are packaged in a 23mm x 23mm, 324-pin PBGA and are priced at $210 and $332 respectively through distribution. All devices are rated for industrial temperature range operation (-40(Degree) to +85(Degree)C). A comprehensive support package including datasheets, software drivers and technical overviews is available on PMC-Sierra's web site at http://www.pmc-sierra.com.

About PMC-Sierra

PMC-Sierra is accelerating the broadband revolution. PMC-Sierra's extensive family of broadband communication semiconductors enables the equipment that makes up the backbone of the Internet. PMC-Sierra offers worldwide technical and sales support including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. PMC-Sierra is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "PMCS". The company is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) which contains the largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The Nasdaq-100 Index is the benchmark for the Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock (Amex:QQQ).

PMC-Sierra develops Internet Protocol (IP), ATM, SONET/SDH, T1/E1, T3/E3, Voice-over-Packet, wireless infrastructure, MIPS microprocessor, and Gigabit Ethernet solutions for wide area network (WAN), and Internet networking equipment. The company's quality system is registered with the Quality Management Institute to the ISO 9001 standard. As co-founder of the SATURN(R) Development Group, PMC-Sierra works with over 30 other member companies to define and develop interoperable, standard-compliant solutions for high speed networking applications. For more information about PMC-Sierra, visit http://www.pmc-sierra.com.

Attachments Figure 1: Optical Access Equipment Figure 2: 3G Wireless Equipment Figure 3: Multiservice Switch Technical Glossary Photo

Note to Editors: To view Figures and Photo, please go to http://www.pmc-sierra.com/octliu

Technical Glossary ------------------ 3G Third Generation AAL1gator(TM)-32 PMC-Sierra's ATM Adaptation Layer 1 SAR Processor

device ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode BSC Base Station Controller BTS Base Transceiver Station COMET-QUAD(TM) PMC-Sierra's Four Channel Combined T1/E1

Transceiver device DS Digital Signal E1, E2, E3 European (world) standards for 2.048 Mbit/s,

8.448 Mbit/s, and 34.368 Mbit/s transmission,

respectively FREEDM(TM)-84 PMC-Sierra's high-density Frame Engine and Datalink

Manager device H-MVIP High-capacity Multi Vendor Integration Protocol IP Internet Protocol J1 Japanese Standard for 1.544 MHz transmission M13 Multiplexer that adopts DS1 circuits to DS3 circuits Mbit/s One million bits per second MHz

MegaHertz MIPS Million Instructions Per Second OC

Optical Carrier OCTLIU PMC-Sierra's Octal T1/E1/J1 Long-haul and Short-haul

Line Interface device PBGA Plastic Ball Grid Array SATURN(R)

PMC-Sierra works with over 30 member companies to

define and develop interoperable,

standard-compliant solutions for high speed

networking applications SBGA  Super Ball Grid Array SBI

Scaleable Bandwidth Interconnect SDH  Synchronous Digital Hierarchy SONET Synchronous Optical Network SPECTRA(TM) PMC-Sierra's SONET/SDH Payload Extractor/Aligner

device S/UNI(R)-IMA-84 PMC-Sierra's 84 link inverse multiplexing for

ATM PHY device T1 North American standard for 1.544 Mbit/s

transmission T3 North American standard for a TDM digital channel

carrier that operates at 44.736 Mbit/s. It can

multiplex 28 DS-1 signals and is synonymous

with DS-3 TE-32 PMC-Sierra's 32-channel T1/E1/J1 framer device TEMAP-84 PMC-Sierra's: High Density T1/E1/J1 VT/TU Mapper

and M13 Multiplexer device TEMUX-84 PMC-Sierra's High Density T1/E1/J1 Framer with

Integrated VT/TU Mapper and M13 Multiplexer device VT/TU SONET Virtual Tributaries/SDH Tributary Units WAN Wide Area Network

(c) Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2001. All rights reserved. S/UNI(R)and SATURN(R)are registered trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. PMC-Sierra(TM), COMET-QUAD(TM), SPECTRA(TM), AAL1gator(TM)and FREEDM(TM)are trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc.