Internet Machines Selects TriCN I/O Interface Technology for its Network Processing, Traffic Management, and Switching Semiconductors

TriCN interface technology utilized in Internet Machines' IMpower^TM communications chipset

SAN FRANCISCO - March 25, 2002 - TriCN, a leading developer of intellectual property (IP) for high-speed I/O interface technology, today announced an agreement under which it is providing its suite of high-performance I/O interface IP to Internet Machines, an award-winning developer of network processor, traffic management, and switch fabric semiconductors.

Internet Machines is implementing a broad range of TriCN's interfaces in all three members of its IMpower family of highly integrated, full-duplex 10 Gbps/OC-192c semiconductors, including the NPE10 network processing engine, the TMC10 traffic management co-processor, and the SE200 switch element. This includes TriCN's I/O interfaces for SPI-4.2, DDR-SDRAM, QDR-SRAM, PCI-X and PLL. The IMpower chipset is targeted for use in 10 Gbps/OC-192c optical, metro area network and Internet infrastructure equipment. Its high level of integration and performance make it an ideal foundation for rapid development of these systems, reducing time to market, real estate and power requirements, and development complexity.

Chris Haywood, Internet Machines' vice president of engineering, commented, "After evaluating a number of IP vendors for our TSMC 0.13 micron interfaces, we chose TriCN because of their interface-specific approach to high-speed I/O interfaces. In our case, we're leveraging TriCN's I/O interface expertise to deliver superior performance for five different interfaces. Their IP not only performs at the highest frequencies, but also takes into account all aspects of our chips, which has saved us considerable implementation time. Furthermore, TriCN's overall knowledge of chips and systems has been an important value-add throughout our design cycle."

By taking advantage of TriCN's interface-specific I/O technology, Internet Machines has benefited from accelerated time-to-market for its IMpower product line by eliminating the need to custom engineer each of the I/O interfaces on its semiconductors. In addition, TriCN has provided and supported the all-important signal integrity and testing analysis that is central to validating the reliability of the new IMpower family of integrated circuits.

"Internet Machines' IMpower line of network processors, traffic managers, and switch fabrics empowers designers of cutting-edge networking products to leverage its advanced switching and packet processing capabilities in their own designs - cutting time-to-market and slashing development costs," says Ron Nikel, CEO and Chief Technology Officer with TriCN. "In much the same way, we're helping Internet Machines and other companies capitalize on the years of research and design work we've put into developing our I/O interface solutions. Our products are targeted toward companies working in the networking and communications space -- such as Internet Machines -- and we're proud to be serving them as a vendor."

Interface-Specific I/O
TriCN's unique interface-specific approach to I/O gives its customers a significant implementation edge. Designers looking for a specific I/O interface find that most IP suppliers deliver a solution for a generic I/O interface technology, such as low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS). This leaves the customer engineer acquiring such a generic solution with the tedious, time-consuming, sometimes daunting, task of tailoring the generic solution to their specific application. TriCN, by contrast, delivers LVDS in specific interface types -- such as SPI-4 Phase 2.

The Systems Approach
According to TriCN's Nikel, "High-speed interfaces don't operate in isolation. They'll ultimately be used as part of a greater overall system, and must be developed to work optimally with real-world systems and in realistic, real-world applications."

For this reason, TriCN's interface-specific I/O technology takes into account IC and PC board package effects, loading effects, and the impact of connectors on signal integrity and timing. Rather than viewing I/O interfaces as simple capacitors on a chip, TriCN takes a full systems approach to interface design, taking into account the entire application and system an IC operates in to significantly improve the likelihood that an I/O interface circuit works reliably at first power up.

About TriCN
Founded in 1997, San Francisco, California-based TriCN is the creator of a new class of intellectual property (IP) known as Interface-Specific I/O. This IP is designed for IC developers addressing strategic, bandwidth-intensive communications, networking, storage and memory applications whose data throughput performance is currently stymied by I/O bottlenecks. TriCN's patent-pending technology overcomes these I/O bottlenecks by delivering validated, industry-leading I/O performance and bandwidth density while dramatically streamlining design complexity and time-to-market. With nearly 50 clients, including Nokia, Philips, MIPS Technologies, SGI, IBM and Apple Computer, TriCN maintains core competencies in high-performance I/O, signal integrity, circuit design and layout. For more information, please visit TriCN's web site at www.tricn.com.

About Internet Machines
Internet Machines is an award-winning fabless semiconductor company offering the IMpower™ family of highly integrated communications ICs for OC-192c and 10 Gbps optical, metro area network and Internet infrastructure equipment. The protocol independent IMpower family consists of the NPE10 network processing engine, the TMC10 traffic management co-processor, the SE200 switch element, and the Development Workbench software development kit. This powerful lineup of wire-speed, fully programmable semiconductors and easy-to-use software simplifies development and greatly shortens the system vendor's time to market. The ICs work together or individually to deliver a highly flexible, interoperable, and field upgradeable solution. The company is headquartered in Agoura Hills, California, with design centers located in San Diego and Irvine, and sales and support offices in San Jose, California, and Boston, Massachusetts, and was named a 2001 Fabless Start-Up of the Year by the Fabless Semiconductor Association. More information on Internet Machines can be found at www.internetmachines.com.

For more information, please contact:

Steve McConnell
TriCN
(415) 625-3606
steve@tricn.com

Kimberly Hathaway
Davé Communications, LLC
(415) 563-5972
kimberly@davecomm.net
 
 # # # #