Tundra Semiconductor Leads RapidIO Market with Launch of First Commercially Available Products

Tundra Brings RapidIO to Market

Dallas, Texas, March 24, 2003 - Tundra Semiconductor (TSX:TUN), the leader in System Interconnect today announced the first commercially available RapidIO™ System Interconnect products: the Tundra Tsi400TM RapidIO to PCI-X Bus Bridge and the Tundra Tsi500TM RapidIO Multi-port Switch.

Tundra is the first company to build System Interconnect devices for RapidIO. This significant milestone strengthens the leadership position Tundra has achieved in the RapidIO market.

RapidIO technology - supported by communications giants such as Alcatel, Motorola, IBM, Lucent Technologies and Ericsson - delivers the performance required in next-generation systems for both communications and storage companies. It takes advantage of the characteristics of new process technology to give customers an outsourced interconnect solution that is easy to integrate and shortens time to market.

"Today's announcement is the culmination of extensive investment in research, development and testing," said Jim Roche president and CEO of Tundra. "These products respond to the need for intelligent, off-the-shelf System Interconnect solutions. Next generation systems must demonstrate robust and flexible performance to support a myriad of embedded applications. The launch of the Tundra Tsi400 and Tsi500 makes this a reality and opens the door to a new and expanding RapidIO market for Tundra."

Motorola, as part of an agreement announced in September 2000, collaborated with Tundra to support RapidIO product development. "Tundra has been a key driver of the RapidIO standard and is the first to bring RapidIO System Interconnect to market," said David Perkins, corporate vice president and general manager, Motorola's Networking and Computing Systems Group. "These next-generation system interconnect products show the Tundra and Motorola commitment to delivering system solutions based on RapidIO connectivity."

The RapidIO Trade Association was formed to drive the adoption of open-standard, high-performance, interconnect architectures needed for embedded systems. "I am pleased to see one of our key members deliver the industry's first RapidIO system interconnect silicon," said Sam Fuller, president of the RapidIO Trade Association. "Tundra - a founding member of the RapidIO Trade Association - continues to provide leadership in the advancement and realization of the standard."

Tundra has been invited to demonstrate the Tundra Tsi400 and Tsi500 during the opening keynote address at the Motorola Smart Networks Developer Forum today in Dallas, Texas.

About the Tundra Tsi400 and the Tsi500
The Tundra Tsi400 is a high-performance bus bridge that connects PCI and PCI-X devices to RapidIO devices. The Tsi400 performs transactions mapping from PCI or PCI-X to RapidIO and vice-versa. This enables full application level transparency for legacy PCI-based sub-systems that are integrated into scalable RapidIO systems.

The Tundra Tsi500 is a high-performance RapidIO Multi-port bus switch, based on the RapidIO standard. The Tsi500 has four 8-bit, full duplex, double data rate RapidIO interfaces. Each RapidIO interface has performance monitoring capabilities that enable the Tsi500 to observe data traffic and gather statistics on each interface. The performance monitoring capabilities optimize system efficiency by highlighting areas of improvement in the system, hardware design and traffic flow.

Pricing and Availability
The Tundra Tsi400, a RapidIO to PCI-X Bus Bridge, is available in sample quantities immediately. Price (per 10K quantity) $ US 39.00
The Tundra Tsi500, a RapidIO Multi-port Switch, is available in sample quantities immediately. Price (per 10K quantity) $ US 59.00

About Tundra
Tundra Semiconductor Corporation designs, develops, and markets System Interconnect for use by the world's leading communications and storage system companies. Tundra System Interconnect is a vital communications technology that enables customers to connect critical system components while compressing development cycles and maximizing performance. Applications include wireless infrastructure, storage networking, network access, military applications, and industrial automation. Tundra headquarters are located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Company also has a design center in South Portland, Maine and a European sales office in Maidenhead, U.K. Tundra sells its products worldwide through a network of direct sales personnel, independent distributors and manufacturers' representatives. Tundra employs about 200 employees worldwide.

Tundra System Interconnect … Silicon Behind the NetworkTM

TUNDRA is a registered trademark of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (Canada, U.S. and U.K.). TUNDRA, the Tundra logo, Tsi400, Tsi500, and Silicon Behind the Network are trademarks of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation. Other registered and unregistered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.