PCI-SIG Forms Committee to Focus on Communications Industry

Industry Leaders Underscore the Benefits and Applications of PCI Express Architecture for Communications Market

Portland, OR - July 23, 2003 - The PCI-SIG™, the Special Interest Group responsible for PCI Express™, PCI™ Conventional, and PCI-X® industry-standard I/O technologies, announced today that it has formed a new PCI Express committee to provide technical marketing and design enabling support to the communications market segment. Fourteen industry-leading PCI-SIG members have joined the PCI Express Communications Committee:

	Agere Systems	IBM	Siemens
	Altera	Intel	StarGen
	Cascade Semiconductor Solutions	National Semiconductor	Xilinx
	Denali Software	ParthusCeva	ZettaCom
	Fulcrum Microsystems	PLX Technologies

In response to growing interest in PCI Express from the rapidly converging communications industry, these 14 members have joined the communications committee to focus on extending the benefits of PCI Express beyond the enterprise and client market segments.

The formation of this committee, under the aegis of the Serial Technical Communications Work Group, begins a formal effort to help enable a larger number of current and future PCI-SIG members that serve the communications industry. The PCI-SIG is committed to helping members realize the benefits of volume economics through the PCI-SIG's thriving ecosystem.

"The PCI-SIG views the communications industry as an important segment of its current and future membership base," said Tony Pierce, PCI-SIG chairman. "Our members will continue to derive economic and technical value by leveraging the investments of their peers in the PCI-SIG as they develop and bring to market affordable, interoperable and timely products."

"This new committee will deliver the necessary focus and vigor to our on-going effort to clarify, educate and evangelize the benefits and applications of PCI Express architecture for the communications market segment," said Ramin Neshati, chair of the PCI-SIG Serial Technical Communications Work Group. "We hope to extend the benefits of PCI-SIG's world-class technical marketing efforts to this vast segment of the hi-tech industry with our educational, technical support and compliance programs."

The group's initial charter is to amplify the benefits of PCI Express architecture by publishing technology whitepapers and application notes, conducting technical seminars and providing additional technical and design enabling in support of the PCI-SIG's compliance and interoperability programs. The communications committee will be chaired by Akber Kazmi, a senior marketing manager with PLX. Kazmi was appointed by the PCI-SIG board of directors because of his broad background in the communication industry - his knowledge of communication standards, technologies, equipment, and market trends.

Member Company Support
"The PCI-SIG has focused on successfully enabling the PCI Express technology for the computing segments," said Kevin Silver, vice president of marketing for Denali Software. "Now, with the formation of this new committee, the PCI-SIG is taking a proactive role in promoting the value of PCI Express technology for communications applications. Member-driven enablement efforts have been very effective for the PCI-SIG, and Denali looks forward to applying these same principles to raise awareness in this market segment."

"PCI Express architecture is rapidly gaining broad acceptance among developers of communications solutions because it opens the door to the full advantages of modular, standards-based building blocks," said Eric Mentzer, vice president, Intel Communications Group and Chief Technology Officer. "The formation of the PCI Express Communications Committee promises to accelerate the convergence of computing and communications technology in a wide variety of communications infrastructure platforms."

"As an active member of the PCI-SIG, PLX has been very enthusiastic in its contributions to the development and support of the PCI Express technology," said Larry Chisvin, vice president of marketing at PLX Technology. "We believe that PCI Express architecture is extremely well suited to the broad communications market, and are pleased to offer our continued support by leading a PCI-SIG committee that will specifically address the needs of the communications market."

"Stargen is pleased to assist the PCI-SIG in its efforts to promote and support rapid adoption of PCI Express in the communications market," said Tim Miller, Vice President for StarGen. "Based on our experience delivering similar PCI compatible serial-switched technology to the communication market today, PCI Express has the appropriate capabilities to be tremendously successful in this marketplace."

"Xilinx believes that the PCI Express architecture is ideally suited for the communications industry," said Mark Aaldering, senior director of the IP Solutions Division at Xilinx. "We are pleased to be part of the communications committee to promote the benefits and applications of the PCI Express technology in the communications market."

Benefits of PCI-SIG Membership
All PCI-SIG members were invited to participate in the new communications committee. If you are interested in becoming a member, please visit the PCI-SIG web site at http://www.pcisig.com/membership/. PCI-SIG members develop and maintain all PCI Express specifications and are actively involved in defining compliance criteria and checklists, as well as other technical enabling collateral.

As an additional and extremely valuable benefit of PCI-SIG membership, members are given the right to receive patent licenses from any other member of our organization with necessary claims of patent embodied within our specifications. These licenses may be limited in scope to an implementation of a particular specification, but must be granted to all members on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

About the PCI-SIG
The PCI-SIG is the Special Interest Group that owns and manages PCI specifications as open industry standards. The organization defines and implements new industry standard I/O (Input/Output) specifications as the industry's local I/O needs evolve. The PCI Special Interest Group was formed in 1992, and the organization became a nonprofit corporation, officially named "PCI-SIG" in the year 2000. Currently, more than 860 industry-leading companies are active PCI-SIG members worldwide. The PCI-SIG's current directors are employed by the following PCI-SIG member companies: AMD, HP, IBM, Intel, LSI Logic, Microsoft, Phoenix Technologies, ServerWorks and Texas Instruments. For more information about the PCI-SIG, and PCI-SIG membership benefits, contact the PCI-SIG by phone, at (503) 291-2569 (within the United States), or by fax at (503) 297-1090, or visit the PCI-SIG web site at http://www.pcisig.com.

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