Rambus and Teradyne to Demonstrate 10 Gbps Backplane Solution at DesignCon East 2003

Reference platform enables higher data rate performance with low risk for legacy backplane systems

Los Altos,CA - June 23, 2003 - Teradyne, Inc. (NYS: TER), Connection Systems Division, a leading supplier of high-performance interconnect systems and Rambus, a leading provider of chip-to-chip interface products and services, will publicly demonstrate a low-risk, 10 Gbps solution over a single differential pair for designers of high-performance backplanes seeking to improve data rates. This reference platform utilizes Teradyne's standard differential high-speed, high-density connectors, VHDM-HSD(tm)and GbX(tm), along with Rambus' 10 Gbps serial link interface, RaSer(tm) X. The platform, built upon these existing connectors, materials and real-life networking/storage backplanes, achieves speeds of up to 10 Gbps per backplane differential trace. Teradyne and Rambus will showcase this common platform at DesignCon East 2003, June 24 - 25 at the Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough, MA.

"Teradyne and Rambus together developed a reference platform to help our customers characterize and analyze the signal integrity performance of representative, customer-deployed backplane sub-systems," said Jean-Marc Patenaude, director of marketing for the Logic Interface Division at Rambus. "While this reference platform showcases how our respective technologies interoperate, it also demonstrates to our customers a proven and low risk upgrade path for their systems deployed in the field by keeping the legacy backplane unchanged."

Teradyne's VHDM-HSD connector is the first commercially successful connector optimized for differential architectures and the de-facto industry standard for demanding bandwidth applications. At 55 differential pairs per linear inch, Teradyne's GbX connector provides the highest level of density available and the most XAUI links in the industry today, offering an upgrade path beyond existing 2mm platforms. The Rambus RaSer X cell runs at up to 10 Gbps on a single connection and offers designers a low-cost, standard CMOS solution that extends bandwidth performance in backplanes without requiring drastic changes to existing equipment. While being backward compatible with all lower data rate backplane standards, this cell enables system designers to quadruple the capacity of existing networking, blade server and storage systems by using the technology in new, higher bandwidth line cards and switch cards while keeping the installed chassis and line cards unchanged.

"The advanced and high-speed interface technology from Rambus, coupled with Teradyne's expertise in multi-gigabit interconnect design, meld together in this reference platform to provide customers with a proven starting point for their designs," said Gautam Patel, signal integrity engineer for Teradyne Connection Systems. "Using standard backplane materials, such as FR-4 or Nelco, this system mimics a real-world backplane environment and is a good measure to test the performance."

This reference demo will be shown in the Rambus booth at DesignCon East, June 24 - 25, 2003 at the Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlboro, MA, booth #101. Teradyne will also be demonstrating GbX interconnect performance at DesignCon, booth #200. The RaSer X 10 Gbps cell is available in TSMC's 0.13-micron CMOS process for licensing and integration into customer designs.

About Teradyne Inc.
Teradyne (NYSE:TER) is the world's largest supplier of Automatic Test Equipment, and is also a leading supplier of interconnection systems. The company's products deliver competitive advantage to the world's leading semiconductor, electronics, automotive and network systems companies. In 2002, Teradyne had sales of $1.22 billion, and employed about 7000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.teradyne.com

About Teradyne Connection Systems

Teradyne Connection Systems (TCS), a division of Boston-based Teradyne, Inc., provides total system solutions, with high-performance circuits, high-speed, high-density connectors, multi-gigabit backplane assemblies and complete system integration and test services. TCS enables industry-leading equipment manufacturers to meet their demanding technology, reliability and time-to-market requirements. For more information visit www.teradyne.com/tcs

About Rambus 

Rambus is a leading provider of chip-to-chip interface products and services. The company's breakthrough technology and engineering expertise have helped leading chip and system companies to solve their challenging I/O problems and bring industry-leading products to market. Rambus' interface solutions can be found in numerous computing, consumer electronic and networking products. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com.