Agere Systems Announces Industry's First Complete Storage Chip Set for Portable Consumer Electronics Disk Drives

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Agere's TrueStore(R) consumer electronics (CE) chip set includes read- channel, preamplifier, motor controller and hard disk controller solutions - the essential silicon required for developing high-performance miniature disk drive form factors from 1.8 inches down to 0.85 inches. Agere is also leveraging these electronics to design highly integrated systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) that support multiple CE-oriented host interfaces in a drive, including multimedia card (MMC), compact flash and the new CE-ATA specification.

With read and write speeds topping 350 megabits per second (Mbits/s), TrueStore CE solutions support today's current storage capacities of 4.0 gigabytes in a typical 1.0-inch drive, as well as future generations of drives with capacities up to 12 gigabytes and beyond. In addition, the complete chip set offers the industry's lowest power consumption -- approximately 400 milliwatts of total power under normal operating conditions -- extending battery life vital to handheld consumer electronics designs.

"With low-voltage operation, shock resistance features, small die sizes and speeds that are up to 50 percent faster than competing solutions, Agere's TrueStore CE chip set and reference firmware represent a complete solution for small-form-factor drive designs," said Joe O'Hare, vice president of Agere's Storage division. "These tiny drives are the key to efficiently storing multimedia content in everything from MP3 players to mobile phones. At larger capacities, these drives offer a lower cost-per-gigabyte than competing flash technologies."

The market for small-form-factor disk drives represents the biggest growth opportunity of any storage segment. Industry analyst firm TrendFocus expects that 1.8-, 1.0- and 0.85-inch drive shipments will grow from 2.6 million units in 2003 to 100 million units in 2008 for a compound annual growth rate of more than 125 percent.

Agere is the industry leader in read-channels and SoCs for the fixed and portable consumer electronics markets, and currently has design wins with every manufacturer of 1.0-inch drives. Agere is also a contributing member of the MMC Association and the new CE-ATA organization, developing interface specifications for integrating disk drives in portable consumer devices.

Read-channel and hard disk controller for new storage SoC designs

Agere's TrueStore RC1100 CE read-channel delivers the exceptional signal- to-noise ratio performance needed to ensure data integrity during disk drive read and write operations at higher areal densities. The channel also offers a disk-locked clock feature enabling portable drives to better withstand shock and vibration during operation.

Building on Agere's decade-long expertise in read-channel development, this solution lowers chip-level power consumption while improving overall system power management through a combination of circuit design techniques and the use of low-leakage process technology. In "deep sleep" mode, the RC1100 consumes up to 70 percent less power than channels tailored for the 2.5-inch drive market.

The addition of production-proven disk controller capabilities for miniature drives enables Agere to provide standard-product or reference-code storage SoCs, which integrate read-channel, disk controller, memory and other functions into a single silicon system. Powerful error correction codes in the controller work together with the read-channel to provide more robust signal processing, helping drive developers boost drive capacity and yield.

Agere's SoC solutions are optimized for low power and cost with flexibility in mind, based on an architecture that includes three megabits of embedded data buffer memory. This unique feature can simplify the total bill- of-materials by eliminating the need for SDRAM, further cutting power consumption and conserving board space. In addition, the system supports shared "dynamic" memory mapping, allowing drive developers to customize data and instruction memory allocation.

Preamplifier and motor controller ICs

Agere's new TrueStore PA1100 CE preamplifier IC delivers exceptional power management - consuming as little as one-third the power of chips supporting 2.5-inch drives - as well as innovative head support. A disk drive's preamp is closely tied to the performance of the drive's magnetic heads and media, amplifying signals from the head before being sent to storage SoCs or read- channels for processing. The PA1100 can be used with either giant magneto- resistive (GMR) or tunneling GMR (TGMR) heads. This preamp also supports next-generation perpendicular recording technology for increasing storage capacities in space-constrained small-form-factor drives.

For the TrueStore MC1100 CE motor controller, Agere has engineered several features enabling improved reliability and shock resistance in portable drives. Working with Agere's hard disk controller, the motor controller offers advanced emergency retract functions that quickly "park" the drive's heads upon sensing physical shock or a loss of power in the drive. This significantly improves a drive's durability and reduces the potential for data loss. With the MC1100, drive designers can also eliminate more than two dozen external components, thereby conserving board space and lowering bill-of- materials.

Package options, availability and pricing

Space savings is a critical requirement in these miniature drive designs, and Agere's TrueStore CE chip set is optimized for low component count and reduced total board space. Agere offers drive developers a number of package and integration options, from very fine pitch "ultra-thin" molded array packages, to stacked or offset multi-chip modules, to chip-scale "packageless" bumped die configurations.

The read-channel and hard disk controller solutions are manufactured in 0.13-micron CMOS, with the PA1100 and MC1100 developed in 0.25-micron CMOS technology, contributing to the low cost of the entire solution.

The RC1100 and hard disk controller technology are available now, with sample quantities of the PA1100 and MC1100 expected to ship in the first and second calendar quarters of 2005, respectively. Pricing for the entire chip set, including firmware and support, begins at US$10 in sample quantities.

About Agere Systems

Agere Systems is a global leader in semiconductors for storage, wireless data, and public and enterprise networks. The company's chips and software power a broad range of computing and communications applications, from cell phones, PCs, PDAs, hard disk drives and gaming devices to the world's most sophisticated wireless and wireline networks. Agere's customers include the top manufacturers of consumer electronics, communications and computing equipment. Agere's products connect people to information and entertainment at home, at work and on the road -- enabling the connected lifestyle.

For more information, customers may visit Agere's Web site at http://www.agere.com/ or contact one of Agere's regional sales offices. Customers in the U.S. may also call the Agere Systems Customer Response Center at 1-800-372-2447. Customers in Canada may call 1-800-553-2448. Customers outside those countries may call 1-610-712-4323. Fax inquiries may be directed to 1-610-712-4106, or e-mail queries to docmaster@agere.com. Written inquiries should be sent to Agere Systems, Room 10A-301C, 1110 American Parkway NE, Lehigh Valley Central Campus, Allentown, PA, 18109, USA.

Agere and TrueStore are registered trademarks, and Agere Systems and the Agere Systems logo are trademarks of Agere Systems Inc.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on information currently available to Agere. Agere's actual results could differ materially from the results stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to keep pace with technological change, our dependence on new product development, price and product competition, availability of manufacturing capacity, customer demand for our products and services, general industry and market conditions, and our reliance on major customers and suppliers. For a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2004. Agere disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT: Glen Haley, +1-610-712-1747, or +1-610-217-0781 (mobile),
glenhaley@agere.com, or Steven Goldsmith, +1-610-712-6737, or +1-484-553-0419
(mobile), goldsmith@agere.com, both of Agere Systems

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