PMC-Sierra Demonstrates Industry's First Digital Predistortion Engine that Enables Carriers to Meet FCC Requirements for WiMAX
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SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2006--PMC-Sierra, Inc. (Nasdaq:PMCS) today announced its industry-leading PM7800 PALADIN(R) 10 and PM7815 PALADIN 15 devices have successfully demonstrated compliance to the rigorous Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 04-258 WiMAX requirements. These solutions leverage PMC-Sierra's industry-standard wireless Digital Predistortion (DPD) technology and its high frequency mixed signal design capabilities to enable products for the emerging WiMAX wireless standard.

"WiMAX is part of the next wave in wireless technologies," said Dr. Robert Yung, vice president and chief technology officer at PMC-Sierra. "PMC-Sierra is uniquely positioned to leverage our extensive RF and mixed signal expertise in providing a portfolio of wireless solutions. Our ability to migrate our proven DPD solutions to the demanding WiMAX standard will enable customers to be first to market with low cost WiMAX products."

PALADIN is the Only DPD Engine to Meet FCC Performance Requirements

The PALADIN 10 device successfully demonstrated compliance to the rigorous FCC 04-258 WiMAX requirements. Compliance to these requirements is essential for service providers planning to deploy WiMAX equipment in the 2.5-2.7 GHz range in the United States. PMC-Sierra's PALADIN 10 DPD solution, combined with Freescale Semiconductor's latest N-channel RF Power MOSFET (the MRF6S27085H) form the heart of a linear Power Amplifier (PA) for WiMAX base stations transmitting in the 2.5-2.7 GHz frequency band.

"We are impressed with the performance of PMC-Sierra's PALADIN and its ability to handle WiMAX signals and deliver positive results," said David Runton, Manager of RF Systems Engineering at Freescale. "PMC's firmware-based DPD algorithm is powerful and flexible enough to handle the challenging WiMAX requirements, while providing designers an off-the-shelf solution."

DPD technology has long been accepted for CDMA2000 and WCDMA 3G cellular base stations. PMC-Sierra has been a pioneer in the commercialization of DPD, and its PALADIN products have been proven in thousands of deployed 3G base stations. However, the FCC performance requirements are much more stringent for WiMAX than for 3G. The PALADIN is the only DPD engine to meet the FCC performance requirements.

Chip Set Solution for WiMAX

The PALADIN 10 and PALADIN 15 devices are an integral part of PMC-Sierra's radio agnostic architecture. PMC-Sierra's architecture enables customers to develop and produce a variety of radio and baseband waveform processing solutions from an integrated and cohesive chip set solution. The chip set is architected to allow economies of scale to be realized across multiple radio products, substantially easing the cost of introduction to manufacturing. The chip set integrates digital signal processing solutions that allow high density, efficient radios, complementary with software defined radio systems, and encompassing highly efficient Doherty amplifiers and envelope tracking techniques within the framework of multi-antenna transmit and receive diversity systems.

About PMC-Sierra's PALADIN Family of Products

Power Amplifier Linearizer And Distortion INhibitor (PALADIN) is a family of high-speed digital waveform processors for next generation WiMAX and 3G networks. The PALADIN family enables higher-performance and higher-efficiency base transceiver stations using fewer and less expensive components. The PALADIN family implements DPD PA technology in base transceiver stations to provide spectral power efficiency improvements of more than 50 per cent compared to feedforward solutions. Through its use of low-power, low-cost digital technology, the PALADIN family provides dramatic cost savings for equipment manufacturers and their customers.

Pricing, Availability and Customer Support

The PM7800 PALADIN 10 and PM7815 PALADIN 15 are available now. For information on pricing for these products, contact a PMC-Sierra sales representative at www.pmc-sierra.com/contactSales/. A comprehensive support package, including datasheets and application notes is available at www.pmc-sierra.com/wireless.

About PMC-Sierra

PMC-Sierra(TM) is a leading provider of broadband communications and storage semiconductors for enterprise, access, metro, storage, wireless infrastructure, laser printers and customer premises equipment. The company offers worldwide technical and sales support, including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the PMCS symbol and is included in the S&P 500 Index. For more information, visit www.pmc-sierra.com.

Resources to Extend Your Product Knowledge and Understanding PMC-Sierra Wireless Products www.pmc-sierra.com/wireless PMC-Sierra New Products www.pmc-sierra.com/products/newProducts PMC-Sierra Networking Webinars www.pmc-sierra.com/webinars PMC-Sierra White Papers www.pmc-sierra.com/whitepaper

(C) Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2006. All rights reserved. Multi-Service Processor is a registered trademark of PMC-Sierra, Inc. PMC, PMCS, PMC-Sierra, and "Thinking You can Build On" are trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

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SOURCE: PMC-Sierra, Inc.