Kawasaki Microelectronics Licenses SNAP to Design Next-Generation, High-Volume Networking Chips

Sonics Helps K-micro Achieve Superior Cost Efficiencies in PON Markets and Manage On-Chip Complexities for Advanced Networking ASICs

MILPITAS, CA, Aug 30, 2011 -- Sonics, Inc.(R), the world's number one supplier of on-chip communications IP, today announced K-micro (Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc.), a leader in advanced PON ASICs, has licensed the company's SNAP(TM) (Sonics Network for AMBA(R) Protocol) solution to help drive its lead in the PON (passive optical network), XGPON1 and 10G EPON markets. SNAP is ideally suited for networking and communications designs that require rapid time-to-market cycles and increased efficiencies for cost-sensitive applications, including next-generation PON markets.

K-micro's innovative ASIC technologies and world-class design support are used in the consumer electronics, computer, office automation, networking and storage markets. K-micro's ASIC solutions are ideal for all of today's PON standards -- BPON, EPON, GPON, 10G EPON, and XGPON1. The networking market requires highly-integrated ASIC solutions with increased bandwidth and efficiency, which in turn, achieve a higher quality of service (QoS) for delay-sensitive voice and video communications traffic.

"SNAP's value truly plays right into the sweet spot of next-generation networking applications and offers a robust, yet affordable solution for designers," said Jack Browne, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "The PON market is a highly competitive, cost-sensitive space and K-micro wanted a solution that was readily available, offered attractive cost efficiencies and design advantages to yield the high ROI necessary for a superior PON design. SNAP was an ideal, cost-effective match."

SNAP is a turnkey platform that simplifies the evaluation process of integrating IP and helps developers optimize on-chip network designs. With the growing complexity of on-chip connectivity, it is critical for engineers to have access to the necessary tools to streamline the design process. With SNAP, Sonics offers the design community an easy-to-use turnkey environment that dramatically accelerates the IP evaluation process and streamlines on-chip complexities across the network in even the most advanced SoCs.

"SNAP has a clear advantage over other commercial solutions we considered and was able to rapidly offer an easy-to-use design methodology that ensured we could get to market quickly and on budget," said Kyoichi Kissei, executive vice president for K-micro. "Sonics provided the highest ROI overall of any on-chip network we reviewed, and with SNAP's low-risk platform, helped us design a high-performance, cost-efficient ASIC to maintain our networking leadership."

About K-micro (Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc.)

K-micro's innovative ASIC technologies and world-class design support are used in the consumer electronics, computer, office-automation, networking and storage markets. The company is an active participant in industry standards organizations, including InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) Technical Committee T10 for SCSI Storage Interfaces, PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG), USB Implementers Forum, Universal Plug and Play Forum (UPnP), Serial ATA International Organization SATA-IO, Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA), IEEE P1901, IEEE P2030, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), HomeGrid Forum, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), High Definition Power Line Communications (HD-PLC), and OCP International Partnership (OCP-IP). K-micro has design centers in San Jose, Taipei, and Tokyo. For more information, contact the company at 408-570-0555, or visit http://www.k-micro.us

About Sonics

Sonics, Inc. is a pioneer of network-on-chip (NoC) technology and today offers SoC designers the largest portfolio of intelligent, on-chip communications solutions for home entertainment, wireless, networking and mobile devices. With a broad array of silicon-proven IP, Sonics helps designers eliminate memory bottlenecks associated with complex, high-speed SoC design, streamline and unify data flows and solve persistent network challenges in embedded systems with multiple cores. As the leading supplier of on-chip communications networks, Sonics has more than 100 patent properties and has enabled its customers to ship more than one billion units worldwide. Founded in 1996, Sonics is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif. with offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sonicsinc.com and www.sonicsinc.com/blog .