Industry's Lowest-Jitter Transceivers From National Semiconductor Deliver 30 Percent...

Industry's Lowest-Jitter Transceivers From National Semiconductor Deliver 30
Percent More Backplane and Cable Reach

PowerWise Devices Extend Reach of PCI Express Gen2 and SATA/SAS Systems for
Data Center Servers and Storage Area Networks

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Semiconductor
Corp. (NYSE: NSM) today introduced two new highly energy-efficient, quad
transceivers that extend backplane and cable reach up to 30 percent farther
than competitive devices. These PowerWise(R) signal conditioning devices drive
high-speed signals in data center servers and storage area networks (SANs).
The DS50PCI401 is PCI-SIG-approved to the PCI Express (PCIe) Gen1 (2.5 Gbps)
and Gen2 (5 Gbps) specifications, while the DS64BR401 supports both 3 Gbps and
6 Gbps SATA/SAS specifications, along with other high-speed signaling
standards such as XAUI, serial Rapid IO (sRIO) and Fibre Channel.

The DS50PCI401 four-lane, bidirectional PCIe transceiver provides both
adjustable receive equalization and transmit de-emphasis, along with the
industry's lowest power at 190 mW typical per lane. In addition, it supports a
selectable low-power state as well as power-down of individual lanes. The
DS50PCI401 compensates for transmission medium losses, reducing deterministic
jitter on eight transmission channels. It equalizes more than 10 meters of
PCIe cable or 40 inches of FR-4 printed circuit board (PCB) at transmission
rates up to 5 Gbps. At seven meters of PCIe cable equalization, the DS50PCI401
achieves less than 0.10 unit intervals (UI) of residual jitter at the
equalizer output. This extended reach enables the use of lower-cost, thinner
(higher gauge) PCIe cable.

The DS50PCI401 offers a unique automatic rate detect feature that adjusts the
output signal conditioning to achieve the maximum benefit at Gen1 and Gen2
data rates. In addition, the DS50PCI401 supports PCIe specific out-of-band
(OOB) signaling such as transmit idle, receive detect and beacon signal pass
through.

For more information on the DS50PCI401 or to order samples and an evaluation
board, visit www.national.com/pf/DS/DS50PCI401.html.

The DS64BR401 four-lane, bidirectional SATA/SAS transceiver provides both
adjustable receive equalization and transmit de-emphasis, and has undergone
extensive interoperability testing with third-party host and target devices.
It equalizes up to 10 meters of SATA/SAS cable or 40 inches of FR-4 printed
circuit board (PCB) at transmission rates up to 6.4 Gbps, with less than 0.25
UI of residual jitter at the equalizer output.

With a typical power consumption of 200 mW typical per lane, the DS64BR401
supports OOB signaling with approximately 3 ns typical of envelope distortion,
ensuring compatibility with the SATA/SAS specification. It also offers an
adjustable voltage output differential of 600 mV peak-to-peak (p-p) to 1200 mV
p-p. The DS64BR401 provides automatic power management on an individual lane
basis via an SMBus interface.

For more information on the DS64BR401 or to order samples and an evaluation
board, visit www.national.com/pf/DS/DS64BR401.html.

The DS50PCI401 and DS64BR401 are the latest additions to National's growing
family of quad-, dual- and single-channel signal conditioning products.
National fabricates these devices on its high-performance silicon-germanium
(SiGe) BiCMOS-8 process technology.

Pricing and Availability
Available now and offered in a 10 mm by 5.5 mm, 54-pin leadless LLP package,
the DS50PCI401 PCIe transceiver is priced at $9.95 each and the DS64BR401
SATA/SAS transceiver is priced at $11.25 each. All prices are in 1,000-unit
quantities.

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor is a leader in analog power management technology. Its
products include easy-to-use integrated circuits, PowerWise products that
enable more energy-efficient systems, and SolarMagic products which improve
the energy output of solar arrays. The company celebrates its 50th anniversary
this year. Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., National reported sales of
$1.46 billion for fiscal 2009. Additional information is available at
www.national.com.

PowerWise and LLP are registered trademarks and Solar Magic is a trademark of
National Semiconductor Corporation. All other brand or product names are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Media Contact Reader Information
Mark Alden Design Support Group
National Semiconductor (800) 272-9959
(408) 721-6929 World Wide Web
mark.alden@nsc.com www.national.com

SOURCE National Semiconductor Corp.

Media, Mark Alden, +1-408-721-6929, mark.alden@nsc.com, or Reader Information,
Design Support Group, 1-800-272-9959, both of National Semiconductor