Agere Intros Fast Switching Chip

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR.A, AGR.B) today announced the world's fastest switching chip that has the potential to revolutionize the economics, size, and multi-service performance and flexibility of communications network infrastructure equipment and consumer electronics devices for the next several years. The groundbreaking chip switches voice, data, and video signals at least four times faster than all other competing single chip switches. China-based Zhongxing Telecom Equipment Corporation (ZTE) -- the largest listed telecommunications equipment manufacturer in China* -- is designing in Agere's chip for use in its multi-service switching equipment platform. Agere's chip, called the Protocol Independent Stand-Alone Switch (PI- 40SAX), is a key engine driving an important shift in the communications equipment industry to a lower cost structure. For the next several years, the industry's equipment will have to be much more reliable, much smaller, offer many more services, and still deliver much higher capacity and speeds-and cost much less. Agere's chip switches voice, data, and video signals at an aggregated switching speed of 80 Gigabits per second (Gbits/s). An aggregated speed of 80 Gbits/s guarantees a minimum of 40 Gbits/s of speed and bandwidth for current and future applications by users of switched voice, data, and video services-four times faster than the nearest competing single chip offering. This is achieved using Agere's patented scheduling technology, which times and sets priorities for individual traffic types the chip supports. "This new Agere chip opens doors to much more attractive cost models for equipment and service providers aimed at jumpstarting the communications industry back to its feet and running at a faster pace again," said Mr. Ma Hong Bing, chief technology officer with ZTE's Networking Division. "There is no doubt about the fact that this chip takes multi-service switching to new and unprecedented levels of performance and cost reduction." Agere Systems ZTE Corp.