Contact Information: Media Contacts for Discera: Venkat Bahl Discera, Inc. 408-432-8600 x228 venkat@discera.com Emilie Harris Lois Paul & Partners 512-638-5321 emilie_harris@lpp.com Media Contacts for Vectron: Bill Holbrook (603) 578-3052 bholbrook@vectron.com Jessica Ryan (617) 587-2923 jryan@brodeur.com
Discera and Vectron Ship MEMS-based Oscillators to Customers
World's Leading Crystal and MEMS Oscillator Vendors Bring New Era to Timing Market, Meet Customer Demands for Improved Scalability and Reliability and Low Power
| Source: Discera
SAN JOSE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 26, 2007 -- Discera, Inc. and Vectron International, a
leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of Frequency Control,
Sensor, and Hybrid Product solutions, today announced the two companies are
sampling MEMS-based oscillators to customers. Vectron is sampling VMC2
(Discera's MOS1) as a direct replacement for quartz crystal oscillator for
high volume timing applications. Since announcing their collaboration this
past November, the two companies have been working together to make these
oscillators available to meet the needs of a market where quartz solutions
have been pushed to the limits in terms of scalability, cost and
processing. Separately today, Discera also announced they are sampling
their MOS1 oscillator to customers (See "Discera Ushers in Next Generation
Device for $3.5B Timing Market").
"We called upon our experience and track record as an innovator in the
frequency control market to find an answer to our customers' needs for
scalability, reliability, programmability and low power," said Ed Grant,
vice president North American products and operations, Vectron. "We are
very familiar with the challenges of delivering a MEMS solution, and we
believe that Discera is the answer for this space. These first products
will enable us to expand our market presence in the high volume commercial
and consumer electronics space. We look forward to working with Discera to
offer additional products to serve our customers in the future."
The electronics industry has been waiting for a reliable, scalable,
cost-effective alternative to quartz oscillators; Discera's MOS1 oscillator
has successfully been qualified to stringent reliability tests, making it
ready for volume production in 2Q07. The MOS1 oscillator family, announced
today by Discera, generates frequencies between 1 to 125 MHz at 2ppm
frequency increments for a high degree of flexibility in meeting customer
needs. The product offers excellent temperature stability and very low
power consumption and is packaged in a tiny industry standard IC package,
providing a significant cost advantage over hermetically sealed packages
used by quartz-based oscillators.
The jointly available product consists of a silicon MEMS resonator and an
ASIC embedded within a conventional QFN package or ceramic package. The
product is now available in production quantities and has been successfully
tested in 25,000 centrifuge acceleration and 50G vibration operation with
no measurable deviation.
"Vectron is a respected brand, known for its high precision and excellent
quality in the timing space," said Venkat Bahl, Vice President, Discera,
Inc. "By offering VMC2 as one of its products, we believe they have
validated CMOS MEMS-based timing and helped open the door to a new era for
electronics manufacturing. We look forward to working with them to
accelerate the move from quartz to silicon in our target markets. The
combination of Vectron's technology infrastructure and IP with our MEMS
know-how and products will have a potent impact."
Discera demonstrated its technology as a plug-and-play direct replacement
of quartz crystal in a camcorder device at Vectron's booth at the
Electronica show this past November. This was the first MEMS demonstration
in a consumer device. Key target applications for MEMS-based timing devices
are DVD players, gaming consoles, set-top boxes, camcorders, PDAs and
cameras. For more information please contact Discera or visit
www.discera.com.
About Discera
Discera is a fabless analog semiconductor company that offers tiny, high
performance silicon resonators for the frequency and timing control
markets. These resonators act as the heartbeat or pulse for a variety of
devices from consumer products such as cameras and MP3 players to
specialized equipment for the military. The company's PureSilicon™
resonator technology is a fundamental building block that offers, according
to Semico Research, "a better mousetrap" for creating fully integrated, low
cost, small form factor wireline and wireless products, such as
oscillators, filters, and RF components. Unlike crystal based oscillators,
Discera's PureSilicon™ based CMOS oscillators can be integrated into
other CMOS based circuits. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Jose,
California, Discera is a privately held company with investments from
Ardesta, Partech, 3i, and Qualcomm Ventures. More information is available
at www.discera.com.
About Vectron
Vectron International is a world leader in the design, manufacture and
marketing of frequency control, sensor, and hybrid product solutions.
Vectron solves complex timing, filtering and sensor challenges by
delivering customized solutions that speed time to market and offer low
total cost of ownership. Vectron uses the very latest techniques in both
bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and surface acoustic wave (SAW) based designs from
DC to microwave frequencies. Committed to the industry's highest quality
service standard and complete satisfaction, Vectron International leverages
its global footprint and 50 years of experience to help customers achieve
competitive differentiation and improve their bottom line. Vectron
International is headquartered in Hudson, NH, and has operating facilities
and sales offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information,
please call 1-88-VECTRON-1 or visit www.vectron.com.