"With the emergence of the LAN as the cornerstone of corporate computing, network performance and manageability are becoming of greater concern," said Laila Razouk, vice president of AMD's network products division. "For example, the TCO for a single PC networked to the LAN, can run as high as *$60,000 for a five year period. The PCnet-FAST+ controller harnesses innovation with high-performance to provide a cost-effective, total solution that enables proactive manageability and optimum functionality of the network."

AMD pioneered the development of power management technology with Magic Packet™ , which has emerged as a de facto industry standard and serves as the foundation of key industry specifications. Consolidating this innovation with AMD's long-standing expertise in the development of IC controllers, the PCnet-FAST+ solution simplifies network management and increases efficiency by offering advanced tools for remote power-on and program execution over the network. The controller solution supports the latest industry initiatives such as the OnNow Network Device Class power management specification, which was co-authored by AMD, the Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI) and PCI bus power management specifications.

The high level of integration offered by the PCnet-FAST+ controller enables OEMS to reduce system cost and shorten time to market with value-added products. The controller meets the requirements of Microsoft's PC97 and PC98 design guides, and the industry's Net PC specifications, making it the ideal connectivity solution for a broad range of PC networking applications, including LAN on the motherboard and network interface cards (NICs). And with large, programmable on-chip memory buffers and advanced networking features, the PCnet-FAST+ controller provides the flexibility to be designed into internetworking and embedded Ethernet applications.

The PCnet-FAST+ controller implements an IEEE 802.3-compliant Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC) with full Auto-Negotiation of 10 or 100 Mbps, half- and full-duplex operation, and a Media Independent Interface (MII) for connection to any standard 10/100 Mbps physical layer (PHY) device. The device is offered with AMD's extensive suite of industry-proven PCnet software, remote boot ROM firmware and a complete set of supporting utilities, documentation and design support tools that enable OEMs to shorten time to market of value-added products.

The PCnet-™ FAST+ Controller Offers the Following Integrated Features:

• OnNow with Magic Packet™ technology support
• ACPI and PCI bus power management support
• 32-bit PCI bus master and DMA engine
• 12 Kbytes of on-chip memory
• IEEE 802.3, PC97, PC98, Net PC compliance
• Auto-Negotiation of link speed
• Integrated power management, SRAM and oscillator
• PCnet- architecture and software interface
• Low 3.3V power with 5V tolerant I/O

The PCnet-FAST+ Controller Offers a Total Product Solution:

• A broad range of software drivers for network operating systems from Microsoft, Novell, IBM, SCO, Artisoft and Banyan
• Licensable remote boot ROM firmware including pre-boot execution environment (PXE) code
• Comprehensive licensable technology and evaluation kit including hardware, software, documentation and design tools
• 160-pin PQFP and 176-pin TQFP packages

Package, Price, Availability

The PCnet-FAST+ controller is listed in the AMD catalog as part number Am79C972. Samples are available now and production shipments will commence January 1998. The PCnet-FAST+ device is $9.75 in quantities of 10K.

Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this news release with respect to PCnet- products are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance of new products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the timely development of wafer fabrication process technologies, the effect of changing economic conditions, and such risks and uncertainties detailed from time-to-time in the company's SEC reports.

* Gartner Group