Sun Microsystems Supports Latest IEEE Connectivity Standard; IEEE 1394 High Speed Bus Promotes Convergence of Computers and Consumer Electronic Devices

Business Wire, March 25, 1996

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1996--Sun Microsystems Computer Company, the network computing company, announced today that it will endorse the IEEE 1394 serial bus interface standard.

The IEEE 1394 Serial Bus is an important, open standard for connecting computers to consumer electronic products as well as to traditional computer peripherals. Using the IEEE 1394 Serial Bus allows a seamless convergence of various devices such as workstations, home computers, televisions, VCRs and camcorders with various media types such as audio, video and text.

Such high-speed data transfer between computers and consumer devices made possible by IEEE 1394 is already the standard among many digital audio visual products and is a natural fit for Sun, whose core philosophy has been to support and build products based on open industry standards.

"Sun is excited about the possibilities and new capabilities that this technology can bring, which were previously not available in the marketplace. It has the potential to accelerate the pace of digital convergence; making it easier to connect computers, high-speed peripherals and consumer electronic devices, and enhance a wide range image-intensive or multimedia applications," said Greg Papadopoulos, Chief Technology Officer at Sun Microsystems Computer Company.

Developed by the IEEE and its list of member computer companies, the IEEE 1394 is a serial bus interface that enables low-cost, high-speed digital data transfer and communication. Transfer speeds between devices can reach up to 400 megabits per second via both asynchronous and isochronous data transfer modes. Data transfers on the bus occur in a peer-to-peer fashion, which keeps transfers from consuming or interrupting on-going CPU cycles, and is necessary to achieve high throughput. In keeping with Sun's tradition of supporting open standards, Sun will be working very closely with industry representatives to create an open industry-wide extension of IEEE 1394 to multi-gigabit rates.

The 1394 Trade Association was founded in 1994 to promote the development of computer and consumer electronics systems that can be easily connected with each other via a single serial multimedia link. IEEE 1394 enables simple, high-bandwidth isochronous (real-time) peer-to-peer interfacing between any computer and consumer electronics products such as camcorders, VCRs, printers, PCs, television appliances and digital cameras. Besides Sun, members of the Trade Association include Texas Instruments, Philips Semiconductor, Apple Computer, IBM, Microsoft, Adaptec, Molex, Sony Mitsubishi, AMD, and Skipstone among others.

Sun Microsystems Computer Company is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of network computing systems and is a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Recognized for quality and innovation, the company's SPARC workstations and multiprocessing servers each hold the No. 1 UNIX marketshare position. These systems are used primarily by businesses, educational institutions and governments worldwide for technical, commercial, industrial, and software development applications. -0-

Note to Editors: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris and Java are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.

Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web using a tool such as Netscape or NCSA Mosaic. Type http://www.sun.com at the URL prompt.

CONTACT: Sun Microsystems Computer Company

Gayle Jennings, 415/786-8126