Comtech AHA Announces GZIP Data Compression Board with Support for Virtual Compression Channels

Moscow, ID – October 29, 2008 – Comtech AHA Corporation announced the introduction of its newest GZIP Data Compression Board (the AHA364-PCle) with 32 independent compression channels to ease arbitration of Central Processing Unit (CPU) resources.

The AHA364-PCle card offers many advantages over software-based compression solutions. It is faster, offers lower latencies and requires less power to perform the compression function than other options. The AHA364-PCle offloads the data compression task from the core CPUs, thus freeing up resources for other tasks, while significantly reducing power consumption.

The system is based on Comtech AHA’s AHA3610 design -- the industry’s first-ever GZIP compression and decompression integrated circuit (IC), which offers up to 2.5 Gbits/sec throughput via hardware, while also giving significant power savings over GZIP software compression.

“Support for virtual compression channels provides system integrators with a lower CPU utilization while keeping compression throughput running at five Gbps,” stated Paul Langworthy, global sales manager for Comtech AHA. “This latest GZIP compression board demonstrates our leadership position in this growing facet of the semiconductor industry. Because our products are based on open standards and do not require license fees or royalties, they are very compatible with competing solutions while delivering the highest performance level.”

Based on the Open Standard GZIP Data Compression Algorithm, the AHA364-PCle supports compression throughput at 5.0 Gbps using an industry standard X4 lane PCIExpress Interface. The system achieves GZIP compression ratios at an average of three to one.

Product features

• 3.6:1 Canterbury corpus compression ratio
• Full GZIP algorithm compliance
• x4 PCI Express Interface
• Uses 2 AHA3610 IC’s
• 5.0 Gb/sec uncompressed throughput
• Efficient scatter gather DMA
• Single stream or intermixed streams
• Software drivers and source code
• Linux and Windows reference drivers

Availability

The AHA364-PCle is available in production today.

About Comtech AHA

Comtech AHA Corporation develops and markets application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), boards, and intellectual property core technology for communications systems architects worldwide. Comtech AHA provides flexible, cost-effective solutions for today’s growing bandwidth and reliability challenges. Located in Moscow, Idaho, Comtech AHA has been providing leading edge Forward Error Correction and Lossless Data Compression technology for more than twenty years and offers a variety of standard and custom IC solutions for the data communications industry. Comtech AHA Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ:CMTL). For more information, please visit www.aha.com.