Tundra Product Line is Growing: Tsi920 DSP Packet Manager Prototypes Now Available.

Business Editors

KANATA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2001

TUNDRA (TSE:TUN.)

The Tsi920 is the most cost effective means of increasing channel density and throughput in wireless and data communications applications. It enables key communications vendors to build smaller and more powerful network systems at a lower cost, and get them to market faster.

Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (TSE:TUN.), a leader in System Interconnect for the Internet and communications infrastructure market, today announced that the Tundra Tsi920 DSP (Digital Signal Processor) Packet Manager is available to communications infrastructure vendors for prototype testing. A fully functioning evaluation card is also available with the Tsi920, letting customers test the device in their specific working environment and design supporting software quickly and easily. As a result, customers can deliver high-performance infrastructure equipment to the market faster and at a lower cost - an important competitive advantage.

The Tsi920 is unique in the market, with no direct competition. By enabling the design of smaller yet more effective communications systems, the device is key to the next generation of advanced Internet and networking equipment such as routers, switches, and gateways. The Tsi920 manages up to 32 DSPs, including Texas Instruments' C5000 platform, in a single board system. This quadruples the performance of DSP-based applications such as voice-over-packet gateways and PBXs when compared with other architectures. The Tsi920 is the first in a line of interconnect products that will be designed for packet-oriented architectures.

"The Tsi920 is one of several important products in the Tundra System Interconnect strategy, and we are seeing customers change their system architectures to incorporate our device," said Rick O'Connor, Vice-President of Marketing and Business Development at Tundra. "Tundra System Interconnect is a vital component in the construction of networks that can transmit billons of bytes of data per second. Today's technology, in comparison, transmits data at millions of bytes per second. The Tsi920 increases system throughput and channel density by offloading the management of DSP traffic from a Host processor, thus allowing the processor to focus on protocol termination and routing." About the Tsi920

Today, designers struggle with performance bottlenecks in processor bandwidth, bus bandwidth, and read/write latency when implementing architectures of more than eight DSPs. The main roadblock to adding more channels is the management of traffic between the DSP and the Host. Two key elements of the Tsi920 eliminate this hurdle: the device's four DSP ports and its intelligent packet management functionality. Each DSP port supports up to eight DSPs and operates independently of the other ports. This means up to 32 DSPs can be deployed in a single design, and up to four DSP transactions can operate simultaneously. The device's intelligent packet management functionality frees system resources to process many more channels (up to 3,000 channels per Tsi920) or take on more applications. It is important to note that the Tsi920 works with packets, not bytes or words. By dealing with the natural data constructs that a communications system is built around, the Tsi920 provides much higher performance and much simpler software interfaces than offered by current technology.

The Tsi920 is designed for communications infrastructure vendors using arrays of DSPs in applications such as cellular and wireless local loop base stations, voice-over-packet gateways, routers and PBXs, and remote access concentrators. As an integral part of Tundra System Interconnect, the Tsi920 can augment many applications currently using Tundra PowerSpan, PowerPro, or QSpan II. The Tsi920 is now available in prototypes with a suggested retail volume price in the mid-$40s U.S. in 10K quantities. About System Interconnect

System Interconnect is the technology to connect components and subsystems in almost any embedded system. It includes chips on a board and boards on a backplane. System Interconnect is a vital enabling technology for the networked world. The convergence of voice, video, and data traffic, the need for more secure communications, and the exploding demand for high-speed network access are putting communications infrastructure vendors under intense pressure to provide faster, well-managed bandwidth that also integrates smoothly with existing technology. Tundra System Interconnect helps these vendors address their customer needs. It enables them to build standards-based network equipment that can scale to multi-gigahertz speeds and beyond, and also integrate with existing infrastructure.

About Tundra

Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (TSE:TUN) designs, develops, and markets advanced System Interconnect for use by the world's leading Internet and communications infrastructure vendors. Tundra chips provide the latest interface and throughput features to help these vendors design and deliver more powerful equipment in shorter timeframes. Tundra products are essential to a range of applications, including telecommunications, data communications, wireless communications, industrial automation, and ruggedized systems. Tundra headquarters are located in Kanata, Ontario, Canada. The Company also has offices in South Portland, Maine, Mountain View, California, and Maidenhead, U.K. Tundra sells its products worldwide through a network of direct sales personnel, independent distributors, and manufacturers' representatives. More information is available on-line at www.tundra.com.

Tundra is a registered trademark of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.