Press Releases

XFP RELEASES PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATION FOR ULTRA SMALL 10 GB/S MODULE

New Module to Slash Cost, Power, and Size of Telecommunications and Data Communications Equipment

NEWS RELEASE
Contact:
Fenella Tigner
408.392.6843
ftigner@brocade.com

COSTA MESA, Calif., July 22, 2002– The 10-Gigabit Small Form-factor Pluggable (XFP) Module Group, a module Multi Source Agreement (MSA) association, announced today the public availability of the preliminary XFP specification. This specification is intended to help speed development of multi-sourced, application-agnostic, ultra-small form factor 10 Gigabit per Second (Gb/s) modules, designed to occupy one-fifth the space and use one-half the power of current modules. The public will have the opportunity to comment, after which time the association will review comments and create a schedule for ratification.

"We are pleased to make the preliminary XFP specification available for review by the industry," said Bob Snively, Principal Engineer at Brocade and Chairman of the group. "Since its inception, the XFP has grown to over XX companies, illustrating the growing interest in accelerating the development of 10 Gb/s Fibre Channel, Ethernet, SONET, and related 10 Gb/s technology to market. We are now working to review comments to the specification and create a timetable for ratification."

Modules built to the XFP specification will feature an electrical interface called XFI, which removes the complexity and power associated with placing electrical transceivers inside currently available modules, resulting in significant space, power and cost savings to module suppliers and system manufacturers. The small size of XFP modules will enable the development of devices having up to sixteen 10 Gb/s ports to be deployed in a 19-inch rack space, and their cost structure will help accelerate the deployment of inexpensive 10 Gb/s client interfaces. Additional cost benefits can be achieved as higher levels of circuit integration become available at the 10 Gb/s data rate. Because the XFP specification is not protocol dependent, multiple market segments will benefit from the aggregate volume of XFP modules.

The XFP Group is composed of networking, system, optical module, semiconductor, and connector companies from the telecommunications, data communications, and storage area network market segments. Member companies include, Aeluros, Agilent Technologies, Altra Broadband, Analog Devices, Inc., Applied Micro Circuits Corp., BitBlitz Communications, Broadcom Corporation, Brocade, E2O Communications, Inc., Emulex Corporation, Finisar Corporation, Fourte’ Design and Development, Gennum Corporation, GTRAN, Inc., HARTING Electro-Optics, Ignis Optics, Inc., Intel Corporation, I-TECH Corp., JDS Uniphase, KeyEye Communications, Kodeos Communications, LSI Logic Corporation, Luminent, Inc. (an MRV Communications Company), Marvell Semiconductor, Inc., Maxim Integrated Products, MergeOptics GmbH, Mindspeed Technologies, Multilink Technology Corporation, NEC Corporation, Network Elements Inc., OEpic, Optical Communication Products, Optium Corporation, Picolight, Inc., Pine Photonics Communications, Primarion, Quake Technologies, RF Micro Devices, Sigma-Links, Inc. (an OKI and Fujikura joint venture), Stratos Lightwave, Inc., Tyco Electronics, Velio Communications, Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation, and Xilinx, Inc.

The founding members of XFP include: Broadcom Corporation, Brocade Communications, Emulex Corp. (NASDAQ: EMLX), Finisar Corporation, JDS Uniphase, Maxim Integrated Products, ONI Systems Corp., Innovation Core SEI (a Sumitomo Electric company), Tyco Electronics and Velio Communications.

About the XFP Group

Founded in March 2002, the 10-Gigabit Small Form-factor Pluggable (XFP) Module Group is an industry association dedicated to technology and standards development for ultra-small form factor, 10 Gb/s communications modules for the telecommunications and data communications markets. For more information about the XFP Group, please visit www.xfpmsa.org

Safe Harbor Statement of the XFP MSA Group under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of1995: All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "potential, "continue," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and are based upon the information available to us at this time. Such information is subject to change, and we will not necessarily inform you of such changes. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

All trademarks mentioned in this release are properties of their respective owners.