CATZ Computer Access Technology (MM)

CATC Delivers Industry's First '4-Wide' Support for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Analysis Powerful and Portable Analyzer Called 'Critical' for Testing 3Gbps SAS Devices with Expanders SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Computer Access Technology Corporation (CATC) , a leading communications protocol expert company, today announced the expanded capabilities of the CATC SASTracer(TM), making it the first commercially available protocol analyzer to support SAS 4-Wide analysis. Included in this release are software enhancements that simplify testing of "expander attached" storage. For the early adopters working on 1.5 and 3Gps Serial Attached SCSI, SASTracer delivers all the "must have" features needed to accelerate SAS device and storage system development. "LSI Logic's leadership in developing the building blocks for SAS demands that we use test and verification tools that fulfill our requirements today, and support us in the future," stated David Steele, director of product planning and management for the LSI Logic Storage Standard Product Division. "By providing a flexible analysis platform that addresses both narrow and wide SAS links, CATC is enabling us to accelerate our protocol verification efforts for our SAS storage technologies." The 4-Wide SASTracer can simultaneously probe 1, 2, 3, or 4 links and supports cooperative triggering and filtering across multiple links. SAS wide connections (when attached to expanders) have the unique ability to dynamically use different physical pathways to complete a single operation. Therefore when testing SAS wide ports, all links must be monitored concurrently to be able to record all frames associated with a single transaction. After recording a wide link, CATC's software automatically groups the frames that are part of a common operation, regardless of the physical link. "The ability to combine multiple SAS links into wide ports will allow system designers to aggregate the performance of SAS initiators and expanders, increasing throughput for bandwidth-intensive applications and, in the end, giving companies faster access to more information," said Linus Wong, director of strategic marketing for Adaptec's Storage Solutions Group. "The CATC analyzer's advanced capabilities will enable Adaptec to build on our first-to- market SAS leadership by speeding tests of our SAS solutions with wide-port expanders and other next-generation features for enterprise computing." In addition to capturing 4-Wide SAS traffic, the version 1.01 software release for SASTracer adds a BusView that shows DWORD level traffic moving upstream and downstream on each link. This new display option provides a chronological list of DWORDs with precise timing context for verifying SAS state transitions across multiple links. The version 1.01 software also adds decoding of Serial ATA Tunneling Protocol (STP). SASTracer simplifies testing of SATA transfers over the SAS transport layer by showing this traffic as STP frames. "CATC has worked closely with developers leading the transition to serial attached storage to deliver the right product at the right time," stated James Wright, director of Storage and Networking Products for CATC. "It was important that we showed our commitment to the industry by being in the forefront of companies to provide a protocol analyzer with SAS 4-Wide support; but it was even more important that we included the specific features that this bus requires for effective analysis." Built on CATC's Universal Protocol Analyzer System(TM) (UPAS(TM) 10000), SASTracer was designed to address both SAS and pure Serial ATA development environments. This highly flexible test and verification system offers plug and play compatibility between SAS and SATA links operating at 1.5 or 3Gbps. In addition to SATA, The UPAS 10000 platform can also be upgraded to support CATC's Fibre Channel, InfiniBand and PCI Express analyzers. Availability CATC's SASTracer analyzer is now available with support for 4-Wide links. Existing customers may upgrade their SASTracer to support 4-Wide links by purchasing a second plug-in module. All customers with current Maintenance agreements will receive the software release free of charge. For further information, please contact CATC or its worldwide network of distribution partners. About CATC Computer Access Technology Corporation (CATC) is a global communication protocols expert company, providing test and measurement solutions for Computer I/O, Storage and Networking protocols, enhancing productivity and time to market. CATC develops, manufactures and markets advanced protocol analysis expert systems for established and emerging digital communications standards including Bluetooth, Fibre Channel, IEEE 1394, InfiniBand, PCI Express, SCSI, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Serial ATA and USB. Semiconductor, device, system and software companies use CATC's products during each phase of their products' lifecycles from development through production and market deployment. CATC's expert protocol analysis systems allow customers to monitor communications traffic, diagnose design and operational problems and confirm interoperability and standards compliance. Technicians also use CATC's test and analysis products on production lines and for maintenance of deployed systems and networks. CATC was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. For more information regarding CATC and its products, please visit http://www.catc.com/. Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on CATC's current expectations, such as availability of product, market acceptance and competition, management capability and experience, levels of growth, profitability and shareholder value. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, such as CATC's production of new products, market acceptance of its products, competitive pressures, management performance, success of growth, profitability and increased shareholder value. These and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, are discussed in more detail in CATC's Annual Report on Form 10K, filed March 21, 2003, its most recent Form 10-Q filed November 13, 2003 and subsequent filings CATC may make with the SEC, as amended, which can be viewed at the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov/. NOTE: CATC, Computer Access Technology Corporation, CATC Trace, SASTracer, Universal Protocol Analyzer System and UPAS are proprietary marks of Computer Access Technology Corporation. All other company names and marks may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. DATASOURCE: Computer Access Technology Corporation CONTACT: Rose Marr of Computer Access Technology Corporation, 408-727-6600, or ; or Camille Cox, 805-497-6400, or , for Computer Access Technology Corporation Web site: http://www.catc.com/

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