Kawasaki Microelectronics Partners with CEVA to Add Fully Compliant 1.5Gbps Serial ATA Macro to its 0.13um ASIC IP Portfolio

Kawasaki has licensed CEVA's Xpert-Connect SATA application IP for a range of storage applications such as SATA Host Controllers, SAN/NAS & RAID, and SATA Router Switch Mux (RSM) devices. Interoperability has already been achieved with leading Serial ATA drives such as the Seagate Barracuda, Western Digital Raptor and Maxtor Diamond-Plus. Customers can immediately use this macro, which incorporates both PHY and Protocol layers, to add a Serial ATA interface to their Kawasaki 0.13u ASIC designs.

"Serial ATA is replacing parallel ATA as the preferred interface for storage applications, and we needed to add support for it to meet requirements from our customers," said Hisaya Keida, general manager of the Product Marketing and Development Department of Kawasaki. "After evaluating a number of Serial ATA IP vendors, we concluded that CEVA's Xpert-Connect SATA technology was clearly the best choice because it is fully compliant, proven interoperable, and consumes only 70mW per channel power."

"We are very pleased to have partnered with Kawasaki in developing and deploying our Xpert-Connect SATA technology," said John Ryan, vice president of the Communications Business Unit of CEVA. "With the addition of our Serial ATA IP, Kawasaki now has a broad portfolio of SoC technology for storage applications. Coupling its portfolio with its affordable prices makes Kawasaki an excellent choice for storage vendors looking for an ASIC supplier."

About Kawasaki Microelectronics

Kawasaki Microelectronics is the leader in advanced yet affordable ASIC semiconductor technology solutions. The company's innovative core technologies and world-class design support are used in the consumer electronics, computer, office-automation, networking, wireless, and electronic-storage markets. Deployed worldwide, Kawasaki's products enable customers to quickly introduce highly competitive solutions. The company is an active participant in industry standards organizations, including the Network Processing Forum (NPF), Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG), USB Implementers Forum, MPEG Industry Forum (MPEGIF), Mobile Computing Promotion Consortium (MCPC), and the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). Kawasaki has design centers in Boston, Osaka, San Jose, Taipei, and Tokyo. For more information, contact the company at 408-570-0555, or visit its English-language web site at http://www.klsi.com/ , its Japanese-language web site at http://www.k-micro.com/ , or e-mail to info@k-micro.com.

About CEVA, Inc.

Headquartered in San Jose, CEVA is the leading licensor of DSP cores and communications solutions to the semiconductor industry. CEVA markets a portfolio of DSP IP in three integrated areas: CEVA DSPs, CEVA-Xpert Open Framework Environment, and CEVA-Xpert Applications, all supported by Xpert Integration services. CEVA's products are used in over 60 million devices each year. The company was formerly known as ParthusCeva, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.ceva-dsp.com/.

CONTACT: Sacha Arts of Slider & Associates, +1-408-356-3099, or
sacha@sliderassociates.com, for Kawasaki Microelectronics; or Barry Nolan of
CEVA, Inc., +1-408-514-2900, or +353-1-4025700

Web site: http://www.ceva-dsp.com/

Web site: http://www.klsi.com/