FREMONT, Calif. -- April 20, 2000- Tapping into its rich telecommunications patent portfolio, Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS)today announced the industry’s lowest power analog front-end (AFE) communications chip that offers up to eight lines per chip. Providers of telephone equipment using the European telephone standard, or “E1,” can now increase their central office capacity up to eight times while reducing power consumption by 15 percent. Cirrus Logic’s new Crystal® CS61881 device replaces current chips used in line cards, SDH transmitters, broadband cross-connects and channel banks.

According to research firm Dataquest, E1 and T1 octal semiconductor demand is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent between now and 2003, driven by expanding demand for Internet access, high-speed WAN lines for businesses and Internet service providers, and trunk line technology.

“Central telephone office infrastructure dictates that both space and power are at a premium. With our new octal device, we’ve addressed both of these issues,” said Diane Stapley, product marketing manager for Cirrus Logic’s Communications Division.

Patented Low Power Technology

Patented matched-impedance drivers on the CS61881 reduce power consumption 15 percent and eliminate the need for a number of external matching components. In applications such as SONET (synchronous optical network) and SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) multiplexers, the power reduction can be as much as ten watts per 100 E1 channels.

These drivers also eliminate the need for OEMs to manufacture two types of line cards used under current E1 specifications: namely, a 75-ohm version for noise immunity on coax cable, and 120-ohm version for reduced-cost twisted pair applications. The CS61881 completely eliminates the need to change external components between 75- and 120-ohm mode designs. Using the CS61881, OEMs can design a card usable in both E1 modes, and telco repair technicians need only carry the one type of card into the field. Moreover, elimination of discrete components reduces board space as well as bill of materials and inventory management for OEMs.

Fully G.703 compliant, the CS61881 also conforms to the ETS-300 166 return loss and the short-circuit limiter specifications, performing measurably above those industry specifications.

Internet-driven Telecom Growth

The CS61881 was designed for the booming European telecommunications market and exceeds all European telecom standards. “The Internet has caused increased demand for data access in addition to traditional voice access,” said Keith Cheney, vice president and general manager for Cirrus Logic’s Communications Division. “Cirrus Logic is committed to providing mixed-signal communications solutions that will enable our telecommunications OEM customers to lead in the expansion of the Internet infrastructure.”

Cirrus Logic will continue to provide OEMs the ability to increase central office capacity with a complete family of products in addition to the CS61881 octal E1 AFE. The CS61881 was designed for the rapidly growing worldwide E1 telecommunications market and exceeds all E1 telecom standards. Additional products will be introduced later this year that will add jitter attenuation, clock recovery, encode/decode, and host mode capabilities. Incorporating the same power-saving features as the CS61881, this family of products will provide the ideal solution for T1/E1/J1 OEMs, enabling port-dense applications for the worldwide E1, North American T1 and Japanese J1 markets.

Pricing and Availability

The CS61881 is currently shipping, and is available in a 144-pin LQFP and 160-pin BGA package. The CS61881 is available for US $20.00 for the LQFP and $21.00 for BGA in OEM quantities.

Cirrus Logic, Inc.

Cirrus Logic is a premier supplier of high-performance analog circuits and advanced mixed-signal chip solutions. The company's products, sold under its own name and the Crystal product brand, enable system-level applications in mass storage, audio and precision data conversion. Additional information about Cirrus Logic is available at www.cirrus.com.

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