NEC Electronics America, Inc. today announced it is demonstrating a fully functional advanced memory buffer (AMB) device for use in fully buffered dual inline memory modules (FB-DIMMs). Fully compliant with the AMB standard ratified by JEDEC, AMB is a key enabling technology behind the increased bandwidths and large memory capacities characteristic of emerging FB-DIMM products. NEC Electronics' AMB device helps bring new levels of memory performance to demanding applications such as servers, routers and graphics controllers, and will be demonstrated in NEC Electronics America's booth (#928) in the Memory Community at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) Spring 2005, March 1 to 3, at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.

The AMB interface is responsible for handling FB-DIMM channel and memory requests to and from the local DIMM and for forwarding the requests to other DIMMs. Compared to existing registered DIMM technology, FB-DIMMs provide memory capacities up to 24 times higher – (192 gigabytes (GB) vs. 8 GB) and bandwidth up to four times faster – (40 gigabytes per second (GB/s) vs. 10 GB/s) when used with 1-gigabit x 4-bit DDRII-800 DRAM. FB-DIMM technology also uses low-signal pins and only 69 pins per channel, whereas existing DIMMs need 240 pins per channel. Accordingly, because FB-DIMMs require a high-performance memory buffer, the AMB's unique channel structure mitigates buffer latency issues typical in registered DIMM technology.

"Networking and communications applications such as servers, work stations and networking devices continue to demand high-speed communications and overall system performance," said Jim Pappas, director of initiative marketing for Intel's Digital Enterprise Group. "Many companies, such as NEC Electronics Corporation, with its emerging Advanced Memory Buffer and FB-DIMM devices, are broadly adopting the high-performance memory technology necessary to meet the challenging performance demands of next-generation, high-speed applications."

NEC Electronics America has teamed up with industry-leading DRAM manufacturers to showcase its AMB technology at IDF 2005. The demonstration will feature a live FB-DIMM on a channel test card (CTC) in which the full functionality of FB-DIMM, including Interconnect BIST, MemoryBIST and Virtual Host Mode, will be shown. NEC Electronics has been working closely with DRAM manufacturers around the world to present this live demonstration. In addition, NEC Electronics America will present an overview of the technical specifications for its new AMB interface in the Memory Community Theater at IDF on Tuesday, March 1 at 6:00 p.m. and Thursday, March 3 at 11:00 a.m.

Pricing and Availability
Samples for NEC Electronics' standalone AMB device are currently available. Mass production is expected to begin in mid-2005 with prices starting at US$25 each in 10,000-unit quantities. The AMB device is also currently available as an IP core for NEC Electronics' ASIC customers. Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice. For more information on NEC Electronics' AMB technology visit http://www.am.necel.com/AMB.

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