RapidIO Technology, Products and Systems Showcased at SNDF

Dallas. (April 29, 2004) – The RapidIO® interconnect technology demonstrated its strong embedded industry leadership as new RapidIO-based semiconductor products and advanced communications systems were showcased this week at the Smart Networks Developer Forum (SNDF) held by Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. Highlights included:

The joint announcement by Mercury Computer Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) and Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (TSX: TUN) of the new Ensemble™ AdvancedTCA development platform using RapidIO’s serial backplane technology
New RapidIO serial endpoint core and AdvancedTCA development platform from Xilinx, Inc.
New RapidIO controller IPcores from GDA Technologies, Inc.

A panel discussion with outside experts from semiconductor and telecommunications OEMs showed significant traction by RapidIO in the wired and wireless communications infrastructure markets. Another panel reviewed the AdvancedTCA platform’s use in new communications applications using advanced backplane technologies such as RapidIO.

There were 15 technical sessions held on RapidIO, representing a full 24 hours of technical content. More than 950 seats were reserved in advance for these sessions. Some of the in-depth RapidIO technical training was developed and presented by Arnewsh, Inc., which became the exclusive worldwide training partner of the RapidIO Trade Association in March, 2004.

In the Technology Lab, 14 RapidIO member companies demonstrated their RapidIO-based products and systems. Demonstrations included the Mercury/Tundra Ensemble AdvancedTCA development system, the GP3 PowerQUICC III reference board from RPC Electronics, a serial RapidIO demonstration by Altera, the new Hardware Interoperability Platform 2 (HIP2) from Tundra with plug-in cards from Wind River, and a parallel RapidIO demonstration by Xilinx.

“The new products and designs at SNDF vividly shows how RapidIO is being used now to increase performance and get embedded applications to market faster,“ said Sam Fuller, president of the RapidIO Trade Association. “The ecosystem for RapidIO has never been stronger; in fact, 10 companies have joined us since the beginning of the year.”

The headline and subhead of the major news announcements, with links to the member’s website news page, are listed below.

1. Mercury Computer Systems and Tundra Unveil Serial RapidIO AdvancedTCA Development Platform: Embedded platform enables telecom OEMS to evaluate RapidIO embedded fabric architecture, reducing integration costs and shortening time to market. Mercury Computer Systems: http://www.mc.com/commercial_oem_solutions/applications/ensemble.cfm?page=1
Tundra http://www.tundra.com/NewsRoom/PressReleases/2004/pr_04_27_04.cfm

2. GDA Technologies Announces GRIO – Silicon IP Cores Based on Serial and Parallel RapidIO Technology GDA: http://www.gdatech.com/newsitems.htm#RapidIO

3. Xilinx Ships Industry’s Only Complete RapidIO Solution for Virtex-II Pro Series FPGAs: Accelerates adoption of RapidIO protocol into wide range of applications including ATCA backplanes and wireless infrastructure Xilinx: http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xil_prodcat_product.jsp?title=hsd_high_speed

For more media information on SNDF, please visit: http://e-www.motorola.com/sndf

About the RapidIO Trade Association:
The RapidIO Trade Association and its global members drive the RapidIO® interconnect architecture. This ISO-certified, open-standard seamlessly enables the chip-to-chip, board-to-board, control, backplane and data plane interconnections needed in high-performance networking, communications and embedded systems. RapidIO-based products are shipping now, including silicon chips, boards and systems. Detailed information on the RapidIO specification, products, design tools, member companies, and membership is available at www.RapidIO.org.

RapidIO is a registered trademark and RapidFabric is a trademark of the RapidIO Trade Association. Product and company names mentioned may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.