Tata Elxsi Announces Breakthrough 802.16d/e PHY and MAC IP Implemented Completely in C/C++

WiMAX IP, based on Stretch’s software-configurable processor, offers unprecedented flexibility and time-to-market advantages

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 17, 2005 — Tata Elxsi Limited, a leading embedded product design services provider, headquartered in Bangalore, India and part of the 17 Billion USD Tata Group, today announced the availability of the WiMAX 802.16d and 802.16e Mac and Phy IPs, as part of its overall WiMAX solution. The new IP, customized on a Stretch software-configurable processor platform, will be showcased at Embedded Technology 2005, Yokohama, Japan, November 16-18. The demonstration will show video data encapsulated in WiMAX frames transmitted between 2 WiMAX devices.

Today, wireless systems manufacturers’ and carriers are forced to use banks of DSPs, FPGAs and general purpose processors, resulting in expensive systems that are difficult to program. Alternatives like fixed function chips make it difficult to address the changing standards. The alliance between Tata Elxsi and Stretch displaces these costly and time-consuming solutions and address the issues mentioned with a programmable processor solution.

The benefits of creating new instructions by programming the Stretch processor with C/C++ include:

• Address multiple markets and diverse applications
• Rapidly respond to emerging WiMAX standards
• Easily add custom features
• "Future-proof" its customer’s systems, building in support for field upgrades

"This is a significant milestone in our overall WiMAX solution roadmap and will enable us to extend our proven SoC design capability across different platforms to integrate WiMAX technology into products for the Communications, Consumer Electronics and Networking Infrastructure industries," stated Mr. Madhukar Dev, CEO, Tata Elxsi. "Stretch offers software-configurable processor platforms that provide greater flexibility to customize our WiMAX IP in a short amount of time. This complements very well with our intent to support rapid deployment of WiMAX technology into products."

"Tata Elxsi experienced first-hand the advantages of basing a design on Stretch’s software-configurable processors," said Gary Banta, Stretch CEO and co-founder. "By eliminating the long development cycles and high development costs associated with ASICs and FPGAs and eliminating the use of assembly language, Tata Elxsi completed this compute-intensive application for Embedded Technology in only two and a half months."

The development agreement between Tata Elxsi and Stretch is expected to yield significant product advances and differentiation opportunities within the WiMAX marketplace. The companies have also begun development on other compute-intensive applications, including solutions for the video and multimedia markets.

Service and Availability
The Tata Elxsi WiMAX IP is available as ANSI C software. This is fully supported by Tata Elxsi’s technology teams worldwide for platform customization and integration into products. Tata Elxsi has over 1800 engineers, designers and technology experts engaged in embedded product design services across hardware, software and technologies such as Networking, DSP Multimedia and Wireless.

About Tata Elxsi Ltd.
Tata Elxsi Ltd. (TATA ELXSI) is an Embedded Product Design Services company, headquartered at Bangalore and part of the 17 Billion USD Tata Group, India’s largest business conglomerate. TATA ELXSI provides high quality, cost effective and reduced time-to-market services and solutions across the product design lifecycle to industry sectors such as communications, consumer electronics, media, semiconductors, automotive and networking infrastructure. This is enabled by a rich industry experience of more than 15 years, mature quality processes and methodologies assessed at SEI CMMi Level 5, core technology strengths and system engineering capabilities. For more information, visit www.tataelxsi.com for worldwide contacts or e-mail at wimax@tataelxsi.co.in.

About Stretch
Stretch Inc. is delivering a family of software-configurable processors, the first to embed programmable logic within the processor. Using familiar C/C++ programming tools, system developers automatically configure Stretch's off-the-shelf processors to achieve extraordinary performance, easy and rapid development, significant cost savings, and flexibility to address diverse markets and changing application needs. Founded in March 2002, Stretch is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and has been funded through investments from Worldview Technology Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Menlo Ventures. For more information, visit www.stretchinc.com.