VHJ: Press Release: "The DDR Tester Company", CST and Netlist Join The QBM Alliance

Press Release: "The DDR Tester Company", CST and Netlist Join The QBM Alliance
Posted By Kathy Smith

The Quad Band Memory (QBM) Alliance announces the addition of CST, Inc. and Netlist, Inc. to the growing membership roster. The need for speed is evident, as design engineers try to reduce the widening gap between microprocessor performance and memory performance, more commonly called the “Memory Wall”.

Wilmington, MA (February 14, 2002) - The QBM Alliance, founded by Kentron Technologies (www.kentrontech.com), is an international alliance of companies that provide key technologies and solutions for the PC, Workstation, Server, Graphics and Telecom marketplaces. The Alliance goal is to efficiently implement the QBM technology into systems to increase memory bandwidth (4.2 GB/sec and above) and thus match the system memory speed with the speed of today’s and tomorrows leading microprocessors. The QBM Alliance announced today, that CST, Inc. "The SIMM/Memory Tester Company" and Netlist, Inc. have joined The QBM Alliance.

The QBM Alliance is comprised of industry leading companies that provide critical DDR based system solutions that include memory controllers, system motherboards, routers, components and memory modules. Members of the Alliance share the common goal of implementing the price/performance leading edge QBM technology into computer systems and telecommunication. A complete list of the QBM Alliance members can be found on the official QBM Alliance website at www.QuadBandMemory.com.

“We are continuing to build a powerful team of industry leading companies by adding CST, Inc. and Netlist, Inc. to the Alliance. These two new additions now join VIA Technologies, Acer Laboratories Inc., STMicroelectronics, Denali Software, PNY Technologies Inc., SiS, Avant Technology, Peripheral Enhancements Corporation, Integrated Circuit Systems and others in the work being done to implement the price/performance leading QBM technology”, said Bob Goodman, CEO of Kentron Technologies.

“Any new memory technology requires affordable test infrastructure to propel it into production. With CST’s 19 years experience in low cost test development, it will be ready to support the new QBM memory. QBM and CST goes hand in hand in reaching higher memory bandwidth,” said Cecil Ho, President of CST, Inc.

“As a leading provider of high-density and custom memory to major OEMs, we constantly encounter system-specific memory issues that no longer can be solved at the IC-level. Joining the QBM Alliance is part of our continuing effort to bring cost-effective, board-level solutions to the system OEM" said Chuck Hong, CEO of Netlist, Inc.

The need for speed is evident, as design engineers try to reduce the widening gap between microprocessor performance and memory performance, more commonly called the “Memory Wall”. Members of The QBM Alliance are aware of the excellent price/performance capability of QBM and have been working closely with Kentron Technologies, the designers behind QBM, in the development and initial testing of this technology. As the membership roster grows, the implementation of QBM in the industry is imminent. In light of the recent announcements from leading DRAM memory manufacturers regarding the delay of volume production of DDR-2 DRAMs until the 2004 – 2005 time frame, the window of opportunity has grown dramatically for QBM. QBM is now recognized as the technology solution to deliver, today, the bandwidth expected from future memory devices such as DDR2 and ADT (4.2 GB/sec bandwidth). The QBM technology uses existing DDR1 devices and provides cost savings and a dramatic performance improvement over future DDR333 and DDR2 modules and other non-DDR compatible, more expensive memory technologies.

The QBM Alliance is an international alliance aimed at positioning Quad Band Memory (QBM) technology as an industry standard. The Kentron Technologies’ QBM Alliance Program provides its members with sales and technical assistance as well as broad marketing support such as added Internet presence and traditional marketing and promotional activities. It is a mechanism whereby key industry vendors, representing best-in-class complementary solutions to Kentron’s QBM memory technology, can participate in the evaluation and implementation of products using QBM memory related technology and receive the most current updated technical design assistance. Alliance members receive priority resources from Kentron that includes QBM modules, simulation models, design guides, documentation, and engineering support for technology evaluation and product implementation. Additionally, Kentron includes its members as part of the Alliance Program on the QBM web site as well as all of the QBM related, press and marketing communication activities. Kentron will also provide available marketing support to the QBM Alliance members for their related marketing activities.

For more information about The QBM Alliance or Kentron Technologies, please contact Andrea E. Pruna, Kentron Technologies, Inc., 155 West Street, Wilmington, MA 01887, at (978) 988-9100, extension 4161, or at andrea@kentrontech.com.

You can also find more information at the official QBM Alliance website at www.QuadBandMemory.com.

CST, Inc. was formed in 1983 by two engineers from a Fortune 100 electronics company. It was formed on the premise that the new computer age will require new test equipment to test them. It therefore, concentrated foremost on engineering. The result was the Triple Crown 700 multi-function tester.
In response to the demand of the market, CST introduced the DRAM Master 700 tester in March, 1985. In November of the same year, CST was called on by Compaq Computer to build the first SIMM tester. Since then, CST, Inc. was known as "The SIMM/Memory Tester Company".

For more information about CST, Inc, please contact Cindy Tse, CST, Inc., 2336 Lu Field Rd, Dallas, Texas 75229, at (972)241-2662 ext. 12, or at Cindy@simmtester.com.

Located in the Irvine Spectrum at the heart of the "Tech-Coast", Netlist designs, manufactures and markets a comprehensive line of Application Specific Embedded Modules (ASEM). ASEMs are mission-critical, board-level products that are used in internet infrastructure equipment such as servers, routers and broadband switching systems. Netlist's ASEM solutions, based on DSPs, microcontrollers, RISC processors, DRAMs, SRAMs and Flash technologies, are marketed to leading OEMs worldwide. Along with the end hardware-product, Netlist also provides turnkey services including design services, program and supply base management, contract manufacturing, and fulfillment services. Netlist's strategy is to marry its unique board-level know-how with its understanding of semiconductor building blocks and system-level applications, to deliver value-added products that offer a performance and time-to-market edge for our customers.

For more information about Netlist, Inc, please contact Christopher Lopes, Netlist, Inc., 3 Goddard, Irvine, CA 92618, at (949) 435-0025, or at clopes@netlistinc.com.

You can also find more information at the company’s website at www.netlistinc.com.

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