Gennum Corporation: PLX Technology Selects Snowbush IP PCI Express 3.0 PHY for Next-Generation Switches
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Gennum Corporation: PLX Technology Selects Snowbush IP PCI Express 3.0 PHY for Next-Generation Switches

BURLINGTON, ONTARIO -- (MARKET WIRE) -- Jun 08, 2009 -- Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND) today announced that PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLXT), a leading global supplier of PCI Express® (PCIe®) switch and bridge silicon, chose its Snowbush IP ( www.snowbush.com) PCIe 3.0 PHY for the PLX® next generation of PCIe switches. The availability of the PHY from Snowbush IP gives PLX the capability to accelerate support for designers ramping projects requiring 8.0 Gigatransfers per second (GT/s) performance, per the PCIe 3.0 specification, and gain market-mover advantages.

Delivering high-performance IP to meet emerging market demands is at the core of Snowbush's business model, and validates a buy vs. make decision to save time and money. Leveraging the new Snowbush IP, PLX Technology is able to reduce its total cost of development and deliver products to early adopters of PCI Express 3.0 for the graphics, server, network and computer markets.

"As the leader in the PCI Express switching market, it's critical that PLX partners with vendors that offer the latest and most advanced technologies to ensure we are offering designers worldwide the best-possible solutions," said David Raun, Vice-President of Marketing and Business Development at PLX Technology. "We did a complete technical and business evaluation of all vendors and chose the Snowbush IP PCIe 3.0 PHY because it has the highest performance, lowest power and is the most robust solution. By licensing the Snowbush PCI Express 3.0 PHY, we will dramatically reduce development time and continue to provide superior, feature-rich PCI Express switches."

Completing the development of a new PHY standard on so powerful an interconnect technology as PCI Express, and on advanced process nodes such as 40 nm, can take as much as one calendar year. Gennum's Snowbush IP group offers silicon-proven IP, saving development costs and engineering time. Snowbush IP is supported by a team of IP integration experts who work directly with system designers to reduce their integration risk.

"PLX Technology is a leader in the PCI Express switch market, and its selection of our PCIe 3.0 PHY represents a significant endorsement of our technology and on-time delivery of IP," said Ewald Liess, General Manager of the Snowbush IP group for Gennum. "Our PHY IP platform allows us to move quickly as these standards evolve to faster speeds, and our extensive experience in delivering high-speed serial interfaces allows companies such as PLX to lower the risk and time to market associated with bringing its products to market, while delivering robust and superior solutions."

High-speed, High-performance PCIe 3.0 IP Accelerates SoC Design

The PHY and Controller from Snowbush IP are designed and tested together, reducing the uncertainty of using different suppliers, enabling a seamless integration into an SoC design project. The integrated PHY and Controller solution is silicon-validated and runs through a set of tests with the PCI-SIG (the consortium responsible for PCIe) for standards compliance and placement on the PCI-SIG's distinguished Integrators List. A complete characterization report is available for each foundry. Snowbush IP supports its customers at every step from initial simulation to production testing of silicon. Both from a time-to-market and make-vs-buy perspective, the integrated solution adds real value when deploying PCI Express, providing a virtual design team that can be leveraged to improve the margins on new products.

About the Gennum Snowbush IP Group

The Gennum Snowbush IP group offers a team of interconnect specialists to design and deliver silicon-proven, high-speed serial interface IP. Comprising one of the industry's most robust, widely-deployed, production-tested and customizable family of IP cores, the Snowbush IP portfolio satisfies the needs of today's most demanding high-speed serial communication protocols and applications. Snowbush IP offers integrated PHY and controller solutions for standards like USB, PCI Express® and Serial ATA (SATA), and single and multi-standard SerDes for applications with data rates from 1 Gb/s to over 10 Gb/s. Gennum's Snowbush IP group is committed to supporting customers with diverse foundry and process requirements, offering IP cores for TSMC, UMC, Common Platform, and Fujitsu processes. For more information visit www.snowbush.com/pcie3.

About Gennum

Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND) designs innovative semiconductor solutions and intellectual property (IP) cores for the world's most advanced consumer connectivity, enterprise, video broadcast, and data communications products. Leveraging the company's proven optical, analog and mixed-signal products and IP, Gennum enables multimedia and data communications products to send and receive information without compromising the signal integrity. A recognized award-winner for advances in high definition (HD) broadcasting, Gennum is headquartered in Burlington, Canada, and has global design, research and development and sales offices in Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, the United States and the United Kingdom.

About PLX

PLX Technology, Inc. ( www.plxtech.com), based in Sunnyvale, Calif., USA, is a leading global supplier of high-performance, feature-rich, system-interconnect semiconductors, SoC and software solutions for the communications, storage, server, compute, embedded-control, and consumer markets. The Company provides a competitive advantage through an integrated combination of experience, innovative silicon, powerful design tools, and synergetic global partnerships. These unmatched PLX solutions are based on established technologies including PCI Express, USB, SATA, Ethernet, and FireWire that enable our customers to develop equipment with industry-leading performance, scalability, security, and reliability, and bring their designs to market faster.

Snowbush IP, Gennum and related logos are trademarks of Gennum Corporation. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. Gennum Corporation, 2009.

Contacts:
Gennum/Snowbush IP Media Contact:
Gennum Corporation
Robin Vaitonis
(905) 632-2999 ext. 2110

Email Contact

Orr & Company
Diane Orr
(408) 358-1617

Email Contact

PLX Technology Contact:
CommonGround Communications (for PLX)
Jerry Steach
415-222-9996

Email Contact