Nurlogic delivers 48 channel fiber optic chipset with industry's highest aggregate bandwidth of 240 GBPS

NURLOGIC DELIVERS 48 CHANNEL FIBER OPTIC CHIPSET WITH INDUSTRY'S HIGHEST AGGREGATE BANDWIDTH OF 240 GBPS

SiGe-based Transmit/receive chipset at 2.5Gbps first in NurLogic's roadmap of parallel fiber optic IC solutions

SAN DIEGO - June 25, 2001 - NurLogic Design, Inc., a developer of high-bandwidth connectivity solutions, today announced the successful delivery of its first parallel fiber optic integrated circuit (IC) chipset for the high-end communications industry. The two-dimensional 48-channel physical media dependent (PMD) chipset is configured as an array of VCSEL modulators and photo-detector amplifiers. At 2.5Gpbs per channel the chipset provides the industry's highest aggregate bandwidth totaling 240Gbps. This chipset is the first product in NurLogic?s roadmap of developing parallel fiber optic networking solutions, including PMD transmitters and receivers and physical (PHY) layer devices, using silicon germanium (SiGe) technology.

NurLogic's customer specific standard product (CSSP) is instrumental in enabling high-density fiber optic modules such as provided by NurLogic?s customer TeraConnect Inc., based in Nashua, New Hampshire. Teraconnect?s T-48 module, also announced today, features 48 electro-optical data channels. The T-48 is the first two-dimensional fiber optic link, providing the densest interconnect currently available in the industry. It reduces power consumption, panel space and operational costs for data storage, switching and routing systems while eliminating the bottlenecks related to increased bandwidth, port speed, and density.

?The launch of our two-dimensional fiber optic interconnects mark an exciting development in data communications,? said TeraConnect President and CEO George Dannecker. ?NurLogic proved to be a valuable player in our product development. Our relationship will provide the communications industry key technology to overcome bottlenecks at the switching, routing and server layer of the network, providing significant operation and cost benefits to router, server, and storage area networking equipment manufacturers.?

Advances in DWDM transport force routers to handle more individual electro-optical data channels at ever-higher speeds, outstripping previous generation board-level and module-level approaches. The fiber optic modules must leverage denser and more power-efficient integrated circuits to enable next generation routing systems. Therefore, the design of parallel optical interface semiconductors represents a critical area that will empower the next phase of the optics revolution.

Product Specifics
NurLogic?s SiGe chipset arrays 48 active channels with 24 channels of redundancy, configured as a 6 x 12 arrays of VCSEL modulators or photo detector amplifiers, combined with high-speed impedance controlled Current Mode Logic (CML) I/Os. The 48-channel transmitter/receiver chipset operates at 2.5 Gbps per channel, allowing simultaneous connections of 48 transmit and 48 receive channels. NurLogic engineers developed several patented techniques to reduce the noise level and ensure testability at both a device and module level, in order to aggregate so many channels. This highly parallel device uses these patented test techniques to allow for a fully testable IC at speed. This chipset also offers on-chip integration to eliminate most off-chip components in highly compact die sizes.

Transmitter Features:

Programmable modulation and threshold current
Programmable temperature compensation for VCSEL power efficiency optimization
Pulse-shaping for optimal data eye compensation

Receiver Features:

Integrated high-frequency trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) and post amplifier (PA)
High signal noise immunity and power/ground noise rejection due to differential receive architecture.
Optimal channel-to-channel biasing for performance matching.
High sensitivity with two orders of magnitude of dynamic range.

?Our first successful launch in the parallel fiber optic market builds upon NurLogic's history of delivering high-quality, technically advanced products to fulfill industry requirements,? said David Matty, Ph.D., president and CEO at NurLogic. ?This new direction establishes NurLogic as a key enabler to the high-end communications market. Industry innovators like TeraConnect rely on NurLogic's expertise in parallel optical interface components to address growing aggregation bottlenecks in router backplanes that will help accelerate the next phase of optical build-out in metropolitan area networks (MAN).?

About NurLogic Design, Inc.

Founded in 1997, NurLogic Design, Inc. provides high-bandwidth connectivity solutions to the networking and communications industries. NurLogic's products encompass customer-specific and industry-standard integrated circuits and semiconductor intellectual property to deliver value-add to its customers. NurLogic products are targeted at CMOS and silicon germanium technologies, and include high-speed connectivity IP, analog and mixed-signal IP, foundation IP, and PMD and PHY ICs. Based in San Diego, California, the company has regional sales offices in Massachusetts and Silicon Valley. NurLogic is a privately held corporation.

Headquarters: 9710 Scranton Road, Suite 380, San Diego, Calif. 92121.
Tel: 1-877-NURLOGIC. On the web at www.nurlogic.com.

Company Contact:		Editorial contact:
Lisa Lipscomb		Cindi Maciolek
NurLogic Design, Inc.		Grand Arbor Press
1.858.455.7570 Ext. 104		1.702.341.5395
lisal@nurlogic.com		cindi@grandarbor.com