ENGINEERING

SUNNYVALE, CA -- Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL), a technology leader in the development of extreme broadband communications solutions, today announced a revolutionary networking architecture that can serve the spectrum from metropolitan terabit systems -- as well as drive high-density Gigabit Ethernet -- to the desktop. Marvell's Prestera(TM) 10 Gigabit switching architecture, coined after "presto" indicating speed and "tera" for its multi-terabit routing scalability, enables manufacturers to develop systems that bring richer content at higher speeds and with greater security to the Internet Fueling Marvell's Prestera architecture is the first networking engine that simultaneously performs Layers 2/3/4, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and many other higher-layer features at full-wire speeds of over 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps). Compared with other existing solutions that perform only Layer 2 Ethernet at 10 Gbps, or network processors that perform only some of these features at 2.5 Gbps, the Company's Prestera architecture combines raw speed with an unprecedented level of feature richness. "Network state machines that efficiently execute basic functions such as Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching and that also perform advanced functions such as Network Address Translation (NAT) and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) provide serious competition to network processors," stated Joseph Byrne, analyst with Gartner Dataquest. "By leveraging six generations of Ethernet switching expertise, Marvell's Prestera architecture enables enterprises to economically bring voice, video and data over Gigabit Ethernet to more desktops than ever before," said Gary Smerdon, Marvell's Vice President of Marketing for the Communications Business Group. "At the same time, Prestera provides metropolitan customers with unprecedented levels of support for MPLS and IP routing, addressing the surging demand for stronger privacy, greater reliability and faster speeds." Nafea Bishara, Chief Architect of Marvell's Prestera Architecture, added "Marvell's Prestera architecture not only meets the needs of our enterprise and metro customers now, but also provides our customers with a platform upon which they can successfully build revolutionary products that will open new markets for them for many years into the future." Prestera(TM)-EX Enterprise Family Marvell's Prestera-EX enterprise family of products addresses system manufacturers' demands to cost-effectively bring Gigabit Ethernet and Layer 3 Internet Protocol (IP) to the desktop. Driven by the increasing speeds of computers and the greater use of storage, IT managers are more rapidly deploying Gigabit Ethernet within the enterprise than ever before. System manufacturers now can achieve greater Gigabit Ethernet densities at lower cost since the Prestera-EX family requires only 0.5 Watts per Gigabit Ethernet connection, eliminating the heatsinks and large fans often required. This also complements Marvell's Alaska(TM) Gigabit and 10 Gigabit physical layer products that lead the industry in numerous metrics, including low-power consumption. The Prestera-EX family is also the first to combine Layer 3 IP routing with high-density Gigabit Ethernet for the desktop enterprise. Through its generous use of internal memories, the Prestera-EX family eliminates the need for external memories and expensive Content Addressable Memories (CAMs) for IP routing. System administrators can now cost-effectively deploy IP routing to the desktop increasing the effectiveness of many applications such as network-based meetings and Voice over IP. Prestera(TM)-MX Core Family Intended for networking equipment deployed in the demanding metropolitan market and at the core of Internet, the Prestera-MX core family is the first to offer native support of MPLS and forward compatibility with the next generation of the Internet commonly known as Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). As just one example, through its support of the latest MPLS standards, vendors using the Prestera-MX family can easily develop equipment for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), a capability required for secure communication between an employee and an employer, or between different remote offices. This reduces the need for existing costly and proprietary encryption systems. "In defining Marvell's Prestera-MX feature set, we paid close attention to issues that enable metropolitan service providers to generate greater revenue across their networks," said Michael McDonald, Director of Business Marketing for Marvell's Switching Products Group. "Marvell's Prestera architecture supports a wide variety of mechanisms for Service Level Agreements, provisioning and advanced billing, as well as traditional reliability, security and redundancy requirements of the core." For more information visit www.marvell.com