New Strategic Agreement Improves Texas Instruments' Position as Storage IC Technology Leader in the DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) and CD-RW (Compact Disk-Rewriteable) Optical Drive Marketplaces

TUSTIN, Calif., Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move designed to improve its position as the leader in storage ICs for various optical drive marketplaces, Texas Instruments has licensed a suite of DVD and CD-RW optical write technologies from Calimetrics Inc., a semiconductor and storage technology developer based in Alameda, California. In addition, the Licensing and Procurement Agreement provides the opportunity for the two companies to work together in jointly developing new products, whereby TI will design and produce ICs that implement Calimetrics' advanced Multilevel Optical Storage (ML) capabilities.

The licensing agreement provides TI with access to Calimetrics' Universal Write Strategy (UWS) technology, including the standard binary recording technology for both DVD and CD-RW optical drives. This adds a key capability to TI's optical IC technology suite, enabling TI to provide more complete, cost effective chip set solutions for the emerging combination CD-RW/DVD drive and other optical storage markets.

The agreement brings Calimetrics' proprietary ML technology into the mainstream of the optical storage marketplace. The ML technology will enable TI's chip set to write data in a format that, when combined with Calimetrics' read technology, will yield significant speed and capacity increases when compared to CD-RW recording.

Mike Holt, Product Line Director for Removable Optical Solutions at TI Storage Products, states that "using these capabilities, it is possible to triple both the standard storage capacity and read/write speed of CD or DVD drives. Such added capacity and speed will be critical success factors in existing and emerging optical markets, including VCR replacements, high- definition TV video recorders, high capacity computer backup solutions and single disk high capacity VCD players."

The heightened relationship between TI and Calimetrics will provide the marketplace with the economical optical recording solutions required for new generations of writeable optical products.

"Calimetrics is pleased to bring its optical write technology to TI, and excited to work with TI as a strategic partner, licensee, and source of supply for ML ICs. Together we can offer our customers complete IC solutions that provide extremely compelling economics, along with the highest capacity and performance up to 3 times greater than currently available technology," says Ken Campbell, Calimetrics' President & CEO.

"Combining Calimetrics' optical write technology with our leading market and technology position in high speed optical read channels, gives us the ability to better service our customers in this, the fastest growing storage industry market segment," concludes TI's Holt.

Calimetrics, Inc., is a semiconductor and storage technology development company headquartered in Alameda, Calif. Incorporated in 1994, the venture- backed firm is the exclusive licensee of patents granted to the University of California, Berkeley related to optical data storage and holds numerous other patents applying to multi-level recording technology. Calimetrics-designed integrated circuits, cores, and disc media enable low-cost production of optical storage systems with significantly greater capacity and faster data transfer rates than currently available systems.

Texas Instruments Storage Products is a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced semiconductors for mass storage applications and is composed of Silicon Systems, Inc., Intersect Technologies, Inc., and the mass storage unit of Texas Instruments. Leveraging its digital signal processor (DSP) and analog and mixed-signal leadership with industry-proven mass storage integrated circuits (ICs), Texas Instruments Storage Products provides total systems solutions to customers. Addressing the performance, capacity and cost demands of the storage market, Texas Instruments Storage Products ICs are used by manufacturers of hard disk drives, removable drives, and emerging mass storage technologies. Additional information is available through its website located at http://www.ti.com/storage.

The worldwide leader and pioneer in digital signal processing solutions since 1982, Texas Instruments provides innovative DSP and mixed signal/analog technologies to more than 30,000 customers in the computer, wireless communications, networking, Internet, consumer, digital motor control and mass storage markets worldwide. To help customers get to market faster, TI offers easy-to-use development tools and extensive software and hardware support, enhanced by its extensive network of third party DSP solutions providers that produce more than 1,000 products using TI technology.

Texas Instruments Incorporated is a global semiconductor company and the world's leading designer and supplier of digital signal processing and analog technologies, the engines driving the digitization of electronics. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company's businesses also include materials and controls, educational and productivity solutions, and digital imaging. The company has manufacturing or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com.

SOURCE: Texas Instruments Storage Products