Sand Microelectronics Announces HP, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Sony, and Symbios Logic Sign Worldwide Licensing Agreements for the Company's Intellectual Property; Sand Continues Its Leadership Position in the USB Market

Business Wire, Sept 9, 1997

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1997--Sand Microelectronics announced today that Hewlett-Packard Company, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Sony and Symbios Logic have signed worldwide corporate licensing agreements for the company's silicon-proven, synthesizable Universal Serial Bus (USB) cores.

These companies join the world's leading semiconductor and systems houses--AMD, Dallas Semiconductor, Fujitsu, Logitech, LSI Logic, Lucent Technologies, Micro Device Technology, Oki Semiconductor, OmniVision Technologies, Siemens, VLSI Vision (UK), Xirlinx, and others--in utilizing Sand's USB solutions.

Sand USB cores reduce time-to-market, development cost and risk, and can be re-used to design a variety of devices. Since the cores are synthesizable, they are technology independent and easy to target to multiple process technologies.

The USB specification defines a serial bus interface for a variety of peripherals, significantly simplifying PC connectivity. The specification defines a USB host, USB devices and USB hubs for additional peripheral support.

Anand Naidu, President of Sand Microelectronics, said, "We are very pleased to have HP, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Sony and Symbios Logic as our customers. By signing these worldwide corporate agreements they are helping to expand Sand's presence in the USB-based systems-on-a-chip market."

What Customers Are Saying About Sand's Cores:

Bob McConnell, Vice-president of AMD's Logic Devices Division (Austin, Texas), noted about AMD's decision to use Sand's USB core, "We look for opportunities and design alternatives that improve our time-to-market. Sand's USB core reduces our design risk, since it has already been proven in silicon."

Michael Shinsky, Systems Application Manager at Sony (San Jose, CA), said, "Sony has a corporate licensing agreement with Sand Microelectronics for their USB cores. Our design teams in the US and Japan use Sand's soft cores for simulation and synthesis of several communications products. We chose Sand's USB cores because they have already been implemented and proven in silicon."

Peter Hirt, Director of SGS-Thomson Microelectronics' Dedicated Products Group (DPG) (Grenoble, France), added, "SGS-Thomson Microelectronics chose Sand, a leading IP supplier, because the company's silicon-proven solutions have been accepted by many of our partners. Our first design needed to be on the market within a quarter. Consequently, the immediate availability of the synthesizable core with detailed documentation and comprehensive test suites were key elements of our decision."

Thomas Lagatta, Vice-president Corporate Marketing and Business Development, Symbios Logic (Fort Collins, CO), said, "Sand's robust USB offering, combined with other I/O technologies which Symbios Logic has helped pioneer, positions Symbios Logic as the premier provider of I/O technology and solutions for a wide range of applications."

About Sand's USB Cores and Design Aids:

Sand provides a complete USB solution. This includes simulation models, cores and tools for easy customization. Sand offers USB cores for device, host, and hub--USB Device Controller (UDC), USB Host Controller (Uhost), and USB Hub Controller (UH01). The company's USB cores are compliant with USB 1.0 and Open HCI specifications. These cores include Sand's RapidScript utility, which enables fast, error-free core configuration to specific customer requirements.

Sand's USB cores are in wide use today and have been designed into a variety of applications including scanners, digital cameras, printers, and audio, video, data communications, and embedded control products.

Pricing and Availability:

Sand has been shipping its USB models and cores for over a year. Contact Sand for information on pricing and licensing.

Sand at the USB Developers Conference:

Sand is demonstrating its products during the USB Conference in Philadelphia, PA, Sept. 9 and 10, 1997. Sand's president, Anand Naidu, is presenting a paper titled, "USB Core-based Design," Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 8:30 a.m.

About Sand Micoelectronics:

Sand Microelectronics, Inc. is a leading provider of silicon-proven intellectual property (IP) with a focus on industry standard bus interfaces such as PCI, USB and 1394. Sand delivers IP as synthesizble cores in Verilog and VHDL. Synthesizable cores, the building blocks of electronic design, are becoming increasingly more important as designs increase in complexity, moving toward full systems-on-a-chip. In addition to cores, Sand's SANDesigner ADVantage toolkits provide simulation models that facilitate system simulation and verification, and performance analysis tools that enable customers to optimize cores for maximum performance. The company is headquartered at 3350 Scott Blvd., Building 24, Santa Clara, CA 95054. Phone 408/235-8600, email: info@sandmicro.com, http://www.sandmicro.com .

Acronyms:

ASIC: Application-Specific Integrated Circuit FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array HCI: Host Controller Interface HDL: Hardware Description Language USB: Universal Serial Bus -0-