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Mini PCI Express™ Card Specification and Technical Workgroup Transferred to the PCI-SIG

New form factor specification for integrated mobile communications highlights breadth of applications using PCI Express architecture

PORTLAND, OR, - December 10, 2002 - The PCI-SIG®, the Special Interest Group responsible for PCI Express™ Architecture, PCI™, and PCI-X™ industry-standard I/O technologies, announced today the transfer of the Draft 1.0 Mini PCI Express Card specification from the Arapahoe Workgroup - along with the transfer of the technical workgroup that developed the specification - to the PCI-SIG. The "MiniCard" specification complements the PCI Express Card Electromechanical form factor and is expected to be implemented in a wide variety of wired and wireless communication peripherals meeting requirements of the Build-to-Order (BTO) and Configure-to-Order (CTO) business model for notebook computers. The Mini PCI Express Card specification provides an alternate solution to the existing Mini PCI form factor serving these markets. The Mini PCI Express Card Specification augments the 1.0 PCI Express Specifications completed in July 2002.

"The PCI-SIG is pleased to grow its portfolio of PCI Express specifications and to extend the application space for this exciting technology to the mobile BTO and CTO business segments," said Tony Pierce, PCI-SIG chairman. "We remain committed to accelerating the growth and adoption of the PCI Express architecture with further technical collaboration and technology development to deliver new and innovative form factor specifications based on the PCI Express architecture to the computing and communications industries."

"The Mini PCI Express specification extends the benefits and value of this new form factor to our growing membership worldwide, and is evidence of the PCI Express architecture's flexibility and versatility for the multiple market segments we serve," said Al Yanes, president of the PCI-SIG. "We plan to leverage our best-in-class industry enabling and compliance programs to ensure that the entire industry will benefit from a plethora of compliant and interoperable products based on the Mini PCI Express specification."

"With the transfer of the Mini PCI Express specification to the PCI-SIG, we have significantly grown the application space and developer interest for the PCI Express technology," said Ajay Bhatt, chairman of the PCI Express technical workgroup. "We are gearing up to quickly complete our technical review of this specification and to make it available to the PCI-SIG membership in the near future."

"The Mini PCI Express specification is the result of the diligent efforts of many leading OEMs and IHVs in the mobile computing industry in producing a state-of-the-art specification that uniquely addresses the requirements of that market segment," said Brad Saunders, technical editor of the Mini PCI Express Card specification and member of the workgroup. "We are happy to be contributing to the growing technology development efforts of the PCI-SIG and in maintaining and enhancing this specification consistent with the business requirements of the mobile industry."

The Mini PCI Express Card specification is evidence of PCI Express technology's flexibility to adapt to new form factors while retaining all the benefits of the base PCI Express specification, allowing for rapid adoption utilizing the growing base of development tools and resources. The Mini PCI Express Card specification answers the mobile computer design and business concerns in the expanding notebook and portable computing market. Along with the specification transfer, the workgroup that developed it will be reconstituted in the PCI-SIG in order to retain technical expertise and the critical knowledge necessary for the continued maintenance and enhancement of the specification. The Mini specification is expected to be finalized by the PCI-SIG for publication in the first quarter of 2003.

About the PCI-SIG

The PCI-SIG is the Special Interest Group that owns and manages PCI specifications as open industry standards. The organization defines and implements new industry standard I/O (Input/Output) specifications as the industry's local I/O needs evolve. The PCI Special Interest Group was formed in 1992, and the organization became a nonprofit corporation, officially named “PCI-SIG” in the year 2000. Currently, more than 860 industry-leading companies are active PCI-SIG members. The PCI-SIG's current directors are employed by the following PCI-SIG member companies worldwide: AMD, ATI, Broadcom, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDEA, and LSI Logic. For more information about the PCI -SIG, and PCI-SIG membership benefits, contact the PCI-SIG by phone, at (503) 291-2569, or by fax at (503) 297-1090, or visit the PCI -SIG web site at: http://www.pcisig.com.

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