Sun Standardizes on Schlumberger Leading-Edge Test Systems for Next Generation SPARC and ASIC Chips

Business Wire, Jan 20, 1998

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 1998--

Delivery of Multiple Schlumberger ITS 9000IX Systems, the

Industry's Most Advanced Commercial VLSI Testers, Provides

Enhanced Flexibility for Testing Sun's Quickly Evolving High

Performance Chips

Schlumberger Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) today announced that Sun Microsystems, Inc. has taken delivery of multiple Schlumberger ITS 9000IX systems to test SPARC and ASIC chips for Sun's next generation of powerful workstations and servers.

Sun's acceptance of Schlumberger's leading-edge 400MHz VLSI test system provides the company with the fastest program generation, most extensive debugging capabilities and highest level of accuracy available on the market today.

In addition to its speed and accuracy, Sun chose the Schlumberger 768 pin system for its flexibility in meeting the changing test requirements of the company's quickly-evolving high performance chips.

"The competition is clearly a year behind Schlumberger in delivering systems of this caliber," said Michel Epsztein, vice president and general manager, Test Systems, Schlumberger ATE. "Sun is taking advantage of Schlumberger's superior test system technology to turn out advanced products more quickly and to further their leadership position."

Epsztein noted that Schlumberger has delivered nearly 30 ITS 9000IX systems worldwide to date, all of which have met or exceeded design specifications.

Putting Schlumberger to the Test

Sun Microsystems and Sun's Microelectronics division will leverage Schlumberger's ITS 9000IX to shorten product development cycles and speed time-to-market for SPARC microprocessors, ASIC devices, chipsets and boards that enable businesses to harness and exploit the power of networked environments worldwide.

This will be accomplished by addressing complicated, time-consuming design-to-test issues with Schlumberger's unique Sequencer Per Pin(R) (SPP) architecture and Advanced Symbolic ATE Programming (ASAP(R)) environment. The ASAP environment of the ITS 9000IX provides simulation-to-test integration for the fastest possible design-to-test link, as well as intuitive and interactive windows for program creation and debug.

By taking advantage of the Schlumberger ITS 9000IX's flexibility and expandable architecture, Sun will be able to speed development of next-generation SPARC CPUs and ASIC.

"Schlumberger delivers the best system for testing cutting-edge products," said Steve German, test technologist, Sun Microelectronics. "Schlumberger ATE provides us with the speed and accuracy we need to test our current systems and the flexibility required to meet our evolving testing needs."

With its 768 pin capability, the Schlumberger ITS 9000IX also provides throughput-oriented, per-pin calibration to maximize system reliability, uptime and productivity, while enhancing repeatability. Combined with extremely fast changeover from wafer probe to package-part testing, the ITS 9000IX provides the highest throughput in the industry.

"We are testing complex devices with high pin count," said Thomas Le, test engineering manager, Sun Microelectronics. "After reviewing a number of systems, we went with the ITS 9000IX because it best meets our high pin count and accuracy needs."

About Sun

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ:SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $8.5 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the WorldWide Web at http://www.sun.com .

About Schlumberger ATE

Schlumberger Automatic Test Equipment (ATE), headquartered in San Jose, California, designs and manufactures the most comprehensive line of back-end manufacturing equipment for the testing of semiconductor devices, including diagnostic systems, automation systems and automatic test equipment.

It also provides equipment to test complete electronic assemblies for the telecommunications and automotive industries. With 1,700 employees worldwide, ATE maintains the largest internationally installed base of automatic test equipment systems.

Schlumberger ATE is a division of Schlumberger Limited, a $9 billion global technology service company providing oilfield services, natural resource management, transactions based technology and associated systems, and semiconductor test equipment.

CONTACT: Schlumberger ATE

Carole Rogers, 408/437-5314

caroler@san-jose.ate.slb.com

or

GCI Group

Elissaveta Ivanova, 415/974-6200

eivanova@gcigroup.com