Tarari Lays Out Roadmap for XML Silicon Products; Further Extending Core XML functions into ASICs to Create More XML-Aware Network Switches, Servers and Appliances

Business Wire, May 5, 2004

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NetWorld Interop 2004 Las Vegas

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2004

Tarari, Inc., the award-winning acceleration company and the first company to design and build core XML functions into silicon, announced today its XML Silicon roadmap to enable OEMs, ISVs, VARs, Fortune 500 corporations as well as small-to-medium enterprises to take advantage of XML hardware acceleration. The roadmap advances Tarari's XML Silicon and extends the current generation of PCI boards -- in use by customers today -- to include dedicated ASICs as well as other form factors and inter-connects, including PCI-X, PMC and Compact PCI boards.

"More and more XML-aware devices are being incorporated into the network infrastructure," said Randy Smerik, president & CEO, Tarari, Inc. "Our XML Silicon roadmap for Tarari Content Processors further stimulates the development of whole new range of application and content aware network switches/routers, Application and XML Firewalls, XML Acceleration and Management appliances, high-performance Web Services servers, high-density blade servers, XML load balancers, content-aware Storage Area Networks (SANs), and real-time telecommunications billing solutions so that our customers can get to gigabit-throughput. All they need to do is to incorporate Tarari's snap-in solution to their existing network and server architectures and they'll gain the acceleration exactly where it's needed."

Tarari is the Intel spinout from the division that originally designed and built the world's first XML Accelerator, which won Overall Best of Show at NetWorld Interop in May of 2000. Succeeding generations of XML acceleration products have included the first XML load balancer and the first XML switch. Based on this experience, in 2003 Tarari delivered to its customers the industry's first XML Content Processor, which implements XML functions in silicon. Tarari will introduce its latest XML Silicon product, the Tarari RAX Content Processor, at NetWorld Interop being held in Las Vegas May 9-14, 2004.

Tarari Content Processors do the heavy lifting and reduce processor-draining tasks to near-zero CPU time by moving these tasks away from compute-bound, general-purpose processors into specialized silicon. Tarari's XML Silicon allows XML and Web Services to be deployed in high transaction rate environments thanks to its Simultaneous XPath acceleration -- XPath is a W3C standard which is fast becoming the most popular way to decode and route XML documents.

XML Performance -- Real Pain that needs to be solved today

Many companies that have embarked on XML and Web Services projects have already experienced severe performance problems. Customers report that processing complex XML messages can take up to 20 seconds per message and that their systems hit a performance ceiling at a few messages per second, whereas their design specifications call for sub-second response times and hundreds or even thousands of messages per second. To ensure that Web Services and XML-based systems continue to gain traction and acceptance on a broad scale, greater throughput and speed is critical.

Many Tarari customers have already benefited from the sheer performance gains achieved by using Tarari Content Processors. The company's XML technology allows them to use industry-standard components and operating systems to create powerful high-performance systems.

Tarari's XML Silicon Roadmap

Tarari's team has years of experience with high speed XML processing, and that is what drove Tarari to create the world's first commercial XML Silicon that is being used by initial customers today. In order to ensure that the XML acceleration can truly be "snapped" into networking and server systems, a robust set of products based on a well designed architectural foundation is essential. Tarari's XML Content Processors and XML Silicon roadmap achieves that objective. Here are some of the key elements of that Roadmap:

-- Industry-standard boards -- Tarari delivers today its XML

Content Processor that is a unique combination of a Content

Processing Controller and two dynamically programmable Content

Processing Engines. This architecture has been designed to

reach the highest performance levels without sacrificing

flexibility. It is currently packaged in a PCI form factor

which allows it to integrate easily in networking, appliance

and server systems. Within the XML Silicon roadmap, other

board-level packaging options are targeted including Blades,

Compact PCI, and motherboards.

-- ASICs -- While a PCI or other board-level approach can

significantly reduce the integration time to incorporate XML

Acceleration into target systems, there are other environments

where a single ASIC is needed. In fact, the Tarari XML

Acceleration ASIC is a key element of its XML Silicon roadmap.

This second generation silicon is designed for OEMs who

require XML Acceleration and need to include it in the custom

systems they are building. A key benefit of Tarari's XML

Acceleration ASIC is the wide variety of systems it can