AMCC Extends Performance and Continues Market Leadership with Latest RAID-Enabled Storage Processor

AMCC Releases PowerPC® 440SPe to Production; Cost-Effective Processor Increases CPU Performance by 20%, Offering Industry Leading Bandwidth and Integration

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (AMCC) [NASDAQ:AMCC] today announced that the newest version of the PowerPC 440SPe has been released to production, increasing core performance to 800MHz (1600 DMIPS). Integrated with RAID 5 and RAID 6 acceleration hardware, this product delivers 20% higher performance compared to the previous version.

The 440SPe combines a wide variety of features including multiple PCI Express interfaces, multiple hardware RAID engines, a crossbar-based on chip bus architecture providing 12.8 Gigabytes per second of on chip data bandwidth, and a DDR2 memory controller supporting up to DDR800 memory devices. The 440SPe processor targets storage applications such as internal and external RAID controllers for SAN, NAS and DAS systems.

"Today’s storage industry demands ever increasing bandwidth and the latest interface technologies. AMCC offers the highest bandwidth storage processors on the market," said Sam Fuller, vice president of marketing at AMCC. "The 440SPe specifically addresses storage market requirements such as RAID 5 and RAID 6 support, system redundancy, battery-backed memory support and support for PCI Express interfaces.”

The 440SPe is the first processor to include three separate PCI Express and one PCI-X interfaces and optional RAID 5 and RAID 6 hardware acceleration technology. The product is uniquely architected to meet the demand for high connectivity, high bandwidth and reliable data processing. Customers benefit from an internal bus capable of data rates of 12.8GB/s, and a dual ported memory controller able to support up to 16GB of DDR1 or DDR2 memories. The multiple PCI Express interfaces include one 8-lane and two 4-lane PCI Express ports, each independently configurable as either root complex or end point, and a 64-bit PCI-X interface for expanded interconnectivity. The PCI express buffering is optimized for high bandwidth transactions achieving 94% sustained data transfer efficiency for inbound and outbound transfers.

The 440SPe is able to execute high-speed DMA transfers to and from memory with sustained bandwidth in excess of 2GB/s, perform RAID 5 or RAID 6 P&Q parity calculations, and carry out PCI Express to PCI Express bridge functions with minimal CPU overhead. With its highly efficient architecture and on-chip RAID hardware acceleration, the 440SPe has world class RAID 5 and RAID 6 performance. The 440SPe works seamlessly with AMCC’s 440GX front-end for iSCSI applications and complements the 440SP, a PCI-X version of AMCC’s growing family of storage processors.

Through the AMCC Partners Program, AMCC’s PowerPC embedded processors are supported by an ecosystem of industry-leading suppliers of operating systems, hardware/software development tools, embedded software, board-level products, and system design services. For full details of the products and services available through the AMCC Partners Program, or to browse support available for a specific processor, please visit: http://www.amcc.com/Embedded/Partners/.

Pricing and Availability

The PowerPC 440SPe is currently available in volume production. AMCC’s 440SPe is packaged in a 27mm x 27mm, 1mm pitch, 675-ball FC-PBGA. The product is available in standard and lead-free RoHS compliant packaging. The distribution suggested resale pricing for the 440SPe processor in standard or lead-free package starts at $115 in 25K quantities. For additional information, please contact your local AMCC sales office, representative or authorized AMCC Distributor. Contact information can be found at http://www.amcc.com/Sales/.

About AMCC

AMCC is a global leader in network and embedded PowerPC processing, optical transport and storage solutions. Our products enable the development of converged IP-based networks offering high-speed secure data, high-definition video and high-quality voice for carrier, metropolitan, access and enterprise applications. AMCC provides networking equipment vendors with industry-leading communications processing, Ethernet, SONET and switch fabric solutions. AMCC is also the leading vendor of high-port count SATA RAID controllers enabling low-cost, high-performance, high-capacity storage. AMCC's corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. Sales and engineering offices are located throughout the world. For further information regarding AMCC, please visit our web site at http://www.amcc.com