Wednesday March 22, 9:35 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Integrated Measurement System's Orion Memory Test Station Supports High-Growth Memory Market Driven by Rambus Technology BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2000--Integrated Measurement Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:IMSC - news) today reported that the integration of Rambus® technology in high-performance desktop PCs, multi-media, wireless and networking products, is driving demand for its Orion high-speed memory test station sales among leading semiconductor manufacturers.
Rambus technology is incorporated onto dynamic-random-access-memory (DRAM) chips and the logic devices that control them to deliver more than 10 times the performance of conventional DRAMs. A single Rambus® DRAM device, referred to as an RDRAM® device, transfers data at speeds up to 800 Mbits and beyond over the Rambus Channel to Rambus-compatible ICs.
Last November, Intel released the Camino chipset, enabling PC makers to ship new systems using RDRAM. The 820 chipset allows PCs to communicate with Rambus memory at a peak speed of 1.6 gigabytes per second, which is about double the rate for today's mainstream PCs. That transfer rate is expected to quadruple in revised chips due later this year.
Hyundai and Infineon have recently joined market leaders Samsung, NEC and Toshiba in volume production of Rambus memory products. (Samsung, NEC, Toshiba and Infineon Technologies AG, account for three-quarters for RDRAM production world-wide.) Rambus reports its five validated manufacturers are ramping their production volume and are expected to deliver more than ten million RDRAM devices by the end Q1 2000.
``According to recent reports, memory makers are expected to ship some 270 million 128MB/144 MB RDRAM® chips in 2000,'' said Mark Allison, general manager, IMS Memory Division. ``We're excited about the phenomenal market growth driven by RDRAM and are proud that our Orion Memory System is playing a critical role in testing these high-speed, next-generation memory devices.''
Offering frequencies of 200 MHz to 400 MHz, Orion can be used to debug advanced high-speed memory devices, including static and dynamic random access memories (SRAMs and DRAMs), as well as synchronous dynamic random access memories (SDRAMs) and Double Data Rate SDRAMs. Orion also provides a fail capture memory of 64 Mb standard with up to 1 Gb as an option.
``Orion enables engineers to uncover problems, improve yields and ship high-quality products in the shortest time possible,'' Jay Kim, marketing manager, IMS Memory Division. ``That kind of competitive advantage can make the difference between a successful product launch and a missed opportunity.''
In addition to the Orion Memory Test Station, IMS' 1 Gbit Vanguard High-Speed Digital IC Validation System can verify and characterize today's most advanced ICs -- including features such as Rambus interfaces -- in the shortest time possible, to move new devices quickly to production.
About IMS
IMS designs, manufactures, markets and services a family of versatile, high-performance digital, memory and mixed-signal IC validation systems used to verify and characterize complex integrated circuits, system level integrated devices and electronic systems. In addition, the company develops and markets a line of Virtual Test(TM) Software products that allow IC test development and simulation before first-silicon. For additional company information, see the IMS Web sites at www.ims.com and www.virtualtest.com.
About Rambus
Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS - news) develops and licenses scalable bandwidth, chip-to-chip interface technologies that enables semiconductor memory devices and ASICs to keep pace with faster generations of processors and controllers. Current Rambus-based computers supported by Intel chipsets include Dell, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM PCs and workstations. Currently, eight of the world's top-10 semiconductor companies license Rambus technology. More information on Rambus Inc. and its high bandwidth technologies is available at http://www.rambus.com. |