SandCraft Licenses Alcatel Technology for High Performance Network Infrastructure Chips

Santa Clara and Calabasas, Calif. - Oct. 1, 2001 - Alcatel (NYSE: ALA) and SandCraft Inc., a leader in the design of high-performance MIPS® processors, today announced that SandCraft has licensed Alcatel's Gigabit Ethernet MAC soft core technology for its next generation Central Processing Units (CPUs) for advanced networking services.

With Alcatel's Gigabit Ethernet soft core technology, SandCraft will bring verified, stable, proven architecture to customers of its advanced superscalar microprocessor solutions. Alcatel's industry-leading technology will reduce development risk, facilitate rapid development of product enhancements, and improve system performance for SandCraft's customers while preserving their current hardware and software platforms.

"Our investment in a high-performance, communications processor family required us to partner with companies that have proven core technology with a high level of scalability," said Dominic McCarthy, SandCraft's vice president of Architecture. "The wide deployment of the Alcatel Gigabit Ethernet MAC soft core has set the standard for the industry and is a perfect candidate for integration in SandCraft's next generation communications processors."

"Demand for ever-increasing bandwidth is driving the need for high performance CPUs for the network core and edge infrastructure," said Alan Amrod, Alcatel's vice president of Enterprise Marketing. "SandCraft's highly scalable, standards-compliant architecture will let customers easily upgrade to new generations of processors while remaining compatible with their installed base."

Alcatel is the market leader in 10/100 Mbps and Gigabit Ethernet media access controller technology and a Principal Member of the 10-Gigabit Ethernet Alliance. The Alcatel Technology Licensing Group's silicon-proven products are currently used in approximately 80 percent of the 10/100 Mbps ports and over 50 percent of the Gigabit Ethernet ports shipping worldwide.

Alcatel's Technology Licensing Group provides 10/100 Mbps, Gigabit, triple speed 10/100/1000 Mbps, and 10-Gigabit Ethernet MAC building blocks in the form of Verilog HDL code for designers of networking ICs and system devices. Alcatel MAC cores have been licensed to dozens of companies worldwide including Philips Semiconductor, Mitel Corporation, Nortel, NEC Electronics, Broadcom, and Lucent. For additional information about Alcatel Technology Licensing Group products and services, visit: www2.ind.alcatel.com/prod_sol/internetworking/emac/index.cfm

About SandCraft

SandCraft Inc. develops and markets advanced superscalar microprocessor solutions for high-performance networking equipment based on MIPS Instruction Set Architecture. These ultra-high performance processors are primarily targeted for use in communications applications such as control plane processing, Internet infrastructure, edge switches and routers. For more information about SandCraft, please visit www.sandcraft.com.

About Alcatel

Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With sales of $29 billion (EURO 31 billion) in 2000 and 110,000 employees, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel at www.alcatel.com/enterprise.

Press Contacts

SandCraft Contact:
Patricia Colby
Pacifico, Inc.
(408) 293-8600
pcolby@pacifico.com
 

Alcatel Contact:

Kristen Bailey
(818) 878-4419
kristen.bailey@alcatel.com