Tarari Delivers Real-Time HD Windows Media Digital Video at NAB 2006; As Digital Content Transitions to HD, Hardware-Accelerated Video Encoding ``Powered by Tarari'' Reduces Costs and Speeds Product to Market.

LAS VEGAS -- Tarari, Inc., the award-winning acceleration company, today announced the Tarari Encoder Accelerator, the first product in the industry capable of delivering real-time encoding of high-definition (HD) digital content transparently and without any loss of quality. The Tarari Encoder Accelerator has been specifically designed and developed for Windows Media Video (WMV), Microsoft's implementation of SMPTE VC-1 to offer "transparent acceleration," so that digital media applications do not need to be modified to take full advantage of real-time encoding.

The all new Grand Prix 6000 Series of the Tarari Encoder Accelerator performs real-time encoding for high-definition video and can process standard-definition video at 2 to 3 times real-time performance. The acceleration technology supports HDTV content as well as 2K and 4K digital cinema formats, and prepares producers for the next generation of DVD content based on the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats.

Tarari will demonstrate these real-time, on-the-fly, hardware-accelerated encoding capabilities in the Microsoft Pavilion -- Booth SL-1161 -- at the National Association of Broadcasters Show (NAB2006), April 24-27. Depending on the complexity of the source content and encoding parameters, encoding one hour of HD video without hardware acceleration can take many hours -- even 30 hours or longer -- on the fastest server and client systems. The Tarari Encoder Accelerator can reduce the time required to encode that same hour of HD video in real-time (one hour in one hour), and for standard-definition (SD) content, to just 20 or 30 minutes. The Tarari Encoder Accelerator can also take a line feed from an HD video camera and encode it into WMV (VC-1) format at the highest quality settings -- on the fly -- thus enabling real-time HD streaming.

"Tarari is the first company to bring real-time transparent encoding to the market for Windows Media Video (WMV) formats," said Randy Smerik, president/CEO and co-founder of Tarari. "With the industry ready to begin a rapid transition to HD content, many vendors and content producers consider our 'Powered by Tarari' solution a breakthrough product because our real-time hardware acceleration makes production of HD video faster, more practical and more cost-effective. This is an area in which we have considerable experience, and we have worked closely with our partners to bring this new real-time HD version to market quickly."

The result of a joint effort between Tarari and Microsoft, the Tarari Encoder Accelerator is an industry-standard PCI-X bus card for Microsoft Windows XP- or Windows Server 2003-based servers that transparently offloads and accelerates the most processor-intensive algorithms -- such as motion estimation -- of Windows Media encoding applications. This acceleration significantly reduces the time and costs associated with creating and sharing digital media.

Tarari's solution allows OEMs and ISVs to accelerate the encoding of Microsoft Windows Media video in many industries. Hardware-assisted acceleration from Tarari enables digital media solutions for film and TV post-production facilities, broadcasters, IPTV providers and corporate communications applications to achieve greater throughput, thus maximizing their return on encoding resources while cutting costs.

Tarari's hardware versions of the highest-quality Microsoft video-encoding algorithms also ensure that users always get the highest-quality encoded video output at accelerated encoding speeds. Improved encoding efficiency can also be achieved when encoding multiple video streams using a single Tarari Encoder Accelerator board.

The Tarari Encoder Accelerator can be integrated easily, quickly and transparently into single or multiple encoding solutions based on the Microsoft Windows Media Format SDK without the need for additional programming or code to connect encoding applications or servers. It is also the only hardware-accelerated encoding solution in the industry that can be implemented without requiring producers or artists to change their workflow because it works with existing encoder applications, hardware, production processes and system configurations.

The real-time HD Tarari Encoder Accelerator will be available in production quantities in June 2006. Users who purchased the Grand Prix 5000 series of the Tarari Encoder Accelerator should contact their Tarari partners for information on upgrading to the new real-time capabilities.

About Tarari, Inc.

Tarari, the award-winning acceleration company headquartered in San Diego, Calif., USA, designs and develops Content Processor silicon to allow original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to accelerate and offload compute-intensive, complex algorithms used in XML/Web Services, Network Security and Digital Media environments. Tarari is a fabless semiconductor company whose product line primarily includes ASICs, and Tarari also offers boards and software acceleration components designed for network equipment, appliance and server vendors, as well as independent software vendors. Tarari is a privately held company with venture backing from Crosspoint Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, Miramar Venture Partners, XMLFund and Intel Capital. For more information, visit www.tarari.com, e-mail: [e-mail] or call 858-385-5131.

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