FREMONT, Calif., -- May 4, 1998 --Marking the company's entrance into the rapidly growing Fast-Ethernet market, Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) today announced the newest member of its successful Crystal LAN™ family, the CS8952, a 10/100 Ethernet transceiver that extends cable lengths by over 60 percent in real world network environments for 10Base-T, 100Base-TX and 100Base-FX Ethernet applications. The new CS8952 is ideally suited for 10/100Base-TX/FX Ethernet switches, multi-segment repeaters, remote access servers, routers, printer interface cards and network interface cards (NICs) as well as other high-speed networking applications.

The CS8952 combines a mix of analog and digital processing onto a single-chip, creating a cost-effective design that delivers industry leading 10/100 Ethernet performance in the critical areas of noise immunity, near end crosstalk (NEXT) margin, transmitter jitter, power and receiver performance over extended cable lengths.

"With today's announcement we believe we have created the industry's most robust Fast-Ethernet transceiver," said Mike Shealy, vice president and general manager of Cirrus Logic's Communications Division. "Last year we established ourselves as a key provider of high-performance Quad 10Base-T Ethernet Transceivers when our CS8904 was chosen by Bay Networks to be in their successful BayStack 303/304 Ethernet switches. And we will continue to build on that momentum as we expand into the Fast-Ethernet market, which Dataquest forecast to be a more than $300 million dollar market in 1998."

Robust Design Extends Ethernet Operating Range

One key to improving the performance of network equipment is improving the error-free operation of the Fast-Ethernet receiver when connected to poorly installed cable segments that utilize low-quality cable. To address this issue, the CS8952 utilizes an adaptive equalizer that provides an optimal combination of line equalization, noise immunity, and NEXT rejection. This allows the CS8952 to operate in environments with substantially more noise and near end crosstalk than competitive solutions that only account for line equalization. This unique design approach also extends the chip's operational capabilities over non-ideal wire segments to greater than 160 meters in length, the industry's longest and over 60 percent longer than the IEEE 802.3 specified cable length of 100 meters. Thus, the CS8952 expands the operating range of network equipment over low-quality cable installations resulting in better end-user performance and fewer customer support issues for network manufacturers.

In addition to its unique and robust receiver design, the CS8952 also utilizes an ultra-low jitter transmitter to extend error-free operation within the network. With less than 400 pico seconds (ps) of transmit jitter, the CS8952 improves overall system performance by reducing the receiver errors at the far end of the twisted pair cable. Overcoming the limitations of available competing solutions, network equipment utilizing the CS8952 can be deployed to improve performance over longer and/or marginal cable segments.

Simplifying FCC Certification

A hallmark of the Crystal LAN Ethernet transceiver technology is its emphasis on reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI). The CS8952's transmit drivers were specifically designed to produce a very low level of common mode noise, the source of EMI in network equipment utilizing twisted pair media. The Crystal LAN Ethernet family's exceptionally low EMI simplifies the network equipment manufacturer's FCC certification process and accelerates time-to-market, a major benefit in the highly competitive network equipment market.

Lower-Power = Lower-Cost

The CS8952 is a low-cost, low-power CMOS design that operates from a single 5V supply. The CS8952's power consumption at 135mA is one of the lowest in the industry reducing the system cost associated with larger power supplies and bigger fans. For added flexibility, the Media Independent Interface (MII) used to interconnect the CS8952 and the Media Access Controller (MAC) can be operated at 3.3V to provide a seamless chip-to-chip connection with 3.3V MACs.

Packaging, Pricing and Availability

Packaged in a 100-pin TQFP, the CS8952 is sampling now and is priced at $8.00 in quantities of 1,000. Production volumes will be available in June.

Cirrus Logic

Cirrus Logic is a premier supplier of system-level integrated circuits that demand high- performance mixed-signal processing. The company applies its system expertise to enable high- volume applications in data storage, networking, and multimedia for both computing and consumer electronics markets as well as ultra- precision data acquisition applications for industrial automation and instrumentation markets.

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Note to editors: Cirrus Logic is a registered trademark and Crystal LAN is a trademark of Cirrus Logic Inc. All other product names noted herein may be trademarks of their respective holders.