TaraCom Integrated Products and GDA Technologies Enter into Partnership to Combine Their GPON SerDes Phy IP and MAC Developed for System Designs

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- March 20, 2008 -- TaraCom Integrated Products and GDA Technologies have entered into a partnership to combine their extensive experience in the mixed signal and digital technologies to offer an integrated solution for GPON applications for the ONU SerDes Phy and the GPON MAC that can be readily integrated into ASIC, SoC or other packaging formats in either 90 or 65 nm process technologies with multiple fabrication suppliers. Special technical consultation is also available for integration with the laser drivers or system or optical modules.

Complete System Solutions

"Our GPON customers are looking for integrated solutions to enable them to accelerate their product development cycle. We are excited to partner with TaraCom to provide this complete solution that will help the customer ramp up their product development quickly," said Ravi Thummarukudy, VP&GM of IC solutions division at GDA. "We complement each other in our Digital and Phy capabilities and together we can enable complete system level solutions in the shortest possible time."

TaraCom's TITAN(TM) GPON SerDes is being developed under orders from existing customers with delivery in the 3Q2008. The GPON MAC is in development and will be fully compliant to the standards. "We anticipate that most designs will be customized for unique applications to meet the cost, performance and application requirements of the Asian, European and Domestic markets," stated Charlie Smaltz, Vice President of Business Development.

GPON technology enables the convergence of IP over optical networks, offering connection speeds much higher than today's DSL- or DOCSIS-based networks which is a key enabler for bandwidth-hungry "triple play" applications such as HDTV and Video on Demand. With an eye toward cost reduction and providing triple-play services in a bandwidth-efficient manner, service providers are turning to Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) systems over PON to transport 2.5Gbps converged data and voice services in the last mile.

Dr. Reza Gholomi, VP of Systems Engineering, indicated the GPON SerDes and MAC will be fully compliant to ITU-T G.984.X specifications. The system solutions offer multiple options of 4, 8, 10 or 16 with bit rate options. The TRC2441 design offers a downstream data rate of 2.488 Gbps, 1.244 Gbps, and upstream data rate of 2.488 Gbps, 1.244 Gbps, and 622 Mbps and is ITU GPON (G.984.2) compliant interface. TRC2441CGA operates from a single 1.0 V supply. The device is capable of transmitting and receiving asymmetrical serial data up to 2.5 Gbps. The MAC Phy core will be compatible with single and multi- function cores. The third-generation SerDes technology offers lowest power consumption while maintaining the industry's highest jitter tolerance.

GPON Growth 90 MU 2012

The number of households with fiber-optic network connections is expected to grow by nearly 43% worldwide in 2008 and will continue to grow at rates above 30% a year through 2012, when the number of fiber-connected households will reach nearly 90 million globally, according to a major new report from CMP's Heavy Reading. The success of the GPON market is predicated on its capability to deliver triple-play services reliably and cost-effectively for the Residential Gateway applications.

About TaraCom Integrated Products

TaraCom has more than 8 years of complex PHY IP mixed signal designs with a proven silicon that assure our customers of timely delivery and continuous support during the ASIC and SoC design cycle. Our industry standard SerDes and High Speed Interface IP Cores have been customized to provide unique performance features that differentiate our customers' products. Our engineers have been awarded more than 40 patents including the original JK Flip Flop.

About GDA Technologies

GDA Technologies is a leading Electronic Design Services (EDS) and Silicon Intellectual Property (SIP) solution provider for the Embedded, Networking, and Consumer Electronics Market. GDA is part of the L&T Infotech Product Engineering Services (PES) offerings, which aims to provide end-to-end product design capability to its customers. GDA is headquartered in San Jose, CA, with satellite design centers in Boston, Sacramento, Chennai, Kochi, and Bangalore. For more information, visit http://www.gdatech.com