PMC-Sierra Announces PALADIN Waveshaper to Maximize Power Efficiency in 3G Wireless Networks.

Business Editors, Technology Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2002

Industry's First Commercially Available Crest Factor Reduction Controller Improving Power Efficiency of Digitally Based Multi-Carrier

Transmission Systems

PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq:PMCS) today announced the PM7819 PALADIN(R) Waveshaper(TM), the industry's highest density waveform processor. This new device is the third member of PMC-Sierra's PALADIN waveform processor family designed to address the urgent need for more power efficient wireless networks. Multi-carrier base stations that adopt both the PALADIN Waveshaper's proprietary crest factor reduction function and PMC-Sierra's PM7815 PALADIN-15(TM) digital pre-distortion amplification technology can achieve up to 20% power efficiencies as opposed to the 10% typically achieved by traditional feed-forward power amplifiers.

The PALADIN Waveshaper performs digital multi-carrier combining, including complex signal aggregation, digital up-conversion, baseband filtering and advanced crest factor reduction. It is designed to work in tandem with PMC-Sierra's PALADIN family of waveform processing devices, including the PM7800 PALADIN-10(TM) and PM7815 PALADIN-15. The PALADIN devices simplify the design of wireless transmitter subsystems and enable improved power efficiencies for multi-carrier base stations. PMC-Sierra is now able to provide an end-to-end architecture for base station designers to build advanced multi-carrier transmitter sub-systems for W-CDMA and CDMA2000 applications (see figure 1).

"PMC-Sierra is committed to helping our customers achieve network power and cost efficiencies in next-generation wireless systems. We are pleased that our breakthrough digital, pre-distortion PALADIN products are now achieving 20 MHz to meet our customers most aggressive bandwidth requirements," said Laurie Wallace, director of strategic marketing for PMC-Sierra's Access Products Division. "The new PALADIN Waveshaper device is the perfect complement to our existing PALADIN-10 or PALADIN-15 devices. By enabling power efficiency yields of 15% to 20%, the typical wireless service provider will be able to save millions of dollars in operating costs."

Advanced Crest Factor Reduction Reduces System-Level Power Consumption

The PALADIN Waveshaper is the industry's first commercially available crest factor reduction controller product to improve the power efficiency of digital multi-carrier transmission systems. For the base station designer, the ability to control and reduce crest factor is critical to controlling costs, achieving high power efficiency and maximizing capacity in the wireless network (see figure 2).

Digital Signal Combination Enables Multi-carrier 3G Transmitter Subsystems

The PALADIN Waveshaper allows for scalability of design, as it provides digital combining technology, including channel filtering, digital up-conversion and frequency multiplexing, to aggregate multiple CDMA2000 or W-CDMA signals onto a multi-carrier baseband waveform. Signals are aggregated by the PALADIN Waveshaper and passed to the other PALADIN processors (PALADIN-10 and PALADIN-15) for digital pre-distortion before transmission (see figure 3).

PALADIN Waveshaper Pricing and Availability

The PM7819 PALADIN Waveshaper is a low-power, 2.6 Watt, 92.16 MHz, 1.5 M gate, .18 micron CMOS device packaged in a 27 mm by 27 mm, 256-pin SBGA package. The devices are priced at $185 (DBP) in 10K quantities. The PALADIN Waveshaper is designed for W-CDMA wireless networks and are sampling in Q2, 2002. A comprehensive support package including reference design and applications notes is available on PMC-Sierra's web site at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/products/. For more information about pricing and availability, contact a PMC-Sierra sales representative at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/contactSales.

About PMC-Sierra's PALADIN Family of Waveform Processors

The PALADIN family of waveform processors include the PM7819 PALADIN Waveshaper, PM7800 PALADIN-10 and PM7815 PALADIN-15 devices for next-generation 2.5 and 3G wireless networks. These devices used in digital, pre-distortion power amplifier technology in base transceiver stations, provide improved spectral power efficiencies of more than 50% over feed-forward solutions. The PALADIN-10 is suitable for up to 2-carrier W-CDMA and up to 6-carrier IS-95/CDMA2000 multi-carrier systems. The PALADIN-15 is suitable for up to 4-carrier W-CDMA/UMTS and up to 16-carrier IS-95/CDMA2000 systems. The PALADIN Waveshaper performs digital multi-carrier combining optimized for W-CDMA and CDMA2000 systems.

About PMC-Sierra's Full Breadth of Wireless Products

PMC-Sierra provides off-the-shelf application specific standard product (ASSP) devices that help wireless base station manufacturers lower their costs without compromising system performance. The company's integrated architectural solutions enable wireless service providers to deploy scalable, feature-rich 2.5 and 3G wireless network equipment optimized for both IP and ATM traffic. PMC-Sierra's system level solutions optimized for the required wireless link density include:

-- PALADIN family of digitally based waveform processing devices for use in
power amplifier designs for 2.5 and 3G base transceiver stations (see figure
4);

-- VORTEX(TM) chip set provides four levels of Quality of Service (QoS) per
line in order to support delay sensitive traffic such as voice. It is optimized
for use in full-featured, fault tolerant wireless infrastructure equipment to
connect between multiple baseband modem cards and the control cards;

-- FREEDM(TM)and S/UNI(R)-IMA product families for complex link aggregation;

-- AAL1gator(TM) Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) family that allows legacy
data to be carried over the new ATM infrastructure using the industry standard
AAL1 protocol; SERDES products for low-power RF to baseband card backplane
interconnection;

-- COMET(TM) product family that allows network operators to use existing T1,
E1 or J1 lines for their initial 3G deployment;

-- S/UNI products that provide an uplink paths to higher speed fibre access;
and

-- high performance MIPS-based processors to handle the increased management
and control functions required in a 3G base station.

About PMC-Sierra

PMC-Sierra is accelerating the broadband revolution. PMC-Sierra is a leading provider of high speed broadband communications semiconductors and MIPS-based processors for Enterprise, Access, Metro Optical Transport, and Wireless network equipment that makes up the backbone of the Internet. The company offers worldwide technical and sales support, including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. PMC-Sierra is included in the S&P 500 Index which consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation and in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) which contains the largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq Stock Market. PMC-Sierra is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the PMCS symbol. For more information about PMC-Sierra, visit http://www.pmc-sierra.com.

Attachments

Figure 1: A Complete 3G Digital Multi-Carrier Transmitter Solution available at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/pdf/waveshaper_fig1.pdf

Figure 2: Advanced Crest Factor Control Benefits of Waveshaping available at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/pdf/waveshaper_fig2.pdf

Figure 3: Digital Multi-Carrier Base Transceiver Station available at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/pdf/waveshaper_fig3.pdf

Figure 4: PMC-Sierra Solution for Base Transceiver Station (Node B) available at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/pdf/waveshaper_fig4.pdf

Photo available at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/photos/index.html

Technical Glossary available at http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/glossary.html

(c) Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved. PALADIN(R), SATURN(R)and S/UNI(R)are registered trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. AAL1gator(TM), COMET(TM), FREEDM(TM), PALADIN-10(TM), PALADIN-15(TM), PMC-Sierra(TM), VORTEX(TM)and Waveshaper(TM)are trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc.