Marvell Technology Group (MRVL)

Our Solutions

        Our integrated circuits incorporate precise high-performance analog, mixed-signal, digital signal processing and embedded microprocessor integrated circuit technology. Our products are designed to allow our customers to store and move digital data reliably at high data transfer rates while using existing media infrastructures or wirelessly through the open air. Our products are also used for transmitting and recovering digitally converted analog signals to and from various types of broadband communications media.

        Our products target high volume markets where some of the most critical success factors are performance, features, power consumption, quality and cost. We initially applied our analog, mixed-signal, digital signal processing and embedded microprocessor integrated circuit technology to storage applications, where we now provide standalone read channel devices, integrated SOCs incorporating read channels, hard disk controller, embedded memory and one or more microprocessors, preamplifiers, motor controllers and power management to meet the high data transfer rate, high areal density, data integrity and power consumption requirements of our customers. A preamplifier amplifies the low level electrical signal transmitted to and from the recording heads in a disk drive device and motor controllers are responsible for controlling movement of the drive mechanical systems.

        We have also applied our core technology to developing high-performance physical layer devices for computers and communications systems that transmit data in analog form but process the data internally in

7

digital form. We have developed physical layer devices for 10 and 100 Megabit per second Ethernet and Fast Ethernet applications, and Gigabit Ethernet physical layer devices for use with existing copper twisted pair wiring infrastructures as well as over fiber-optic cabling. Our Fast Ethernet physical layer devices provide long distance signal transmission capability and low power consumption. Our Gigabit Ethernet physical layer devices address the reduced signal quality of Gigabit data rate signals on existing copper twisted pair wiring infrastructures. Additionally, we have also developed 10 Gigabit Ethernet physical layer devices that can be used in the backplane for interconnection between line cards, among other applications.

        To address the growing demand for wireless connectivity, we have also developed a family of wireless integrated circuit chipsets in accordance with standards set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards. Our highly integrated Libertas™ solutions include an RF transceiver and a baseband/Media Access Controller, or MAC. The RF transceiver sends and receives data using advanced radio technology coupled with an integrated power amplifier to boost or reduce RF signals. The baseband/MAC employs sophisticated digital signal processing techniques and embedded microprocessor technology to process and manage the data as well as provide data security. These functions are used or being designed to wirelessly connect computers as well as many consumer devices such as cell phones, printers, digital cameras, MP3 devices, speakers, game consoles and PDAs. By integrating our Fast Ethernet physical layer technology, the chipset can also be used in access points that connect wireless devices to wired communications systems. Additionally, the chipset can be designed with our multi-port integrated switches to cost-effectively develop wireless gateway routers for the home or small office.

        We also design integrated circuits that perform critical functions in converged network systems, in which voice, video and data are handled seamlessly using Internet Protocol, or IP, techniques. We have developed several product families for broadband communication system vendors that address the important subsystems in communication systems — the CPU subsystem, the LAN subsystem and the WAN subsystem. As increased system bandwidth places higher demands on the CPU, our highly integrated Discovery™ system controllers greatly improve CPU subsystem performance. The strong technical foundation established for the creation of the system controller products has been used to create our Horizon™ WAN communication controllers. Our WAN communication controllers consist of products that integrate most of the system blocks needed to implement converged voice/data routers. We also offer switched Ethernet controllers and processors for the LAN subsystems. Our physical layer technology and expertise combined with our system-level technology and expertise is designed to provide our customers with complete solutions, which we believe enables them to introduce their products to the market more quickly than they can with other solutions.

        We have also introduced integrated circuits that perform the management of power within electronic devices. Our power management solutions utilize a digital signal processing based approach as compared to what has been traditionally performed with pure analog solutions. We believe that our approach to power management is capable of handling higher levels of electrical current with the use of smaller and fewer passive components. Our approach also results in higher efficiency that increases battery life and also decreases the system's heat dissipation, which minimizes the usage of fans or other means of cooling the equipment.

        Key features of our technology solutions include:

•

Mixed-Signal Broadband Analog Front-End Technology.    One of the most critical components of many communications-related mixed-signal integrated circuits is the analog front-end. The analog front-end is the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter that serves as the interface between the digital signal processor and the physical transmission medium. We are able to design these broadband analog front-ends due to a number of innovations, including proprietary self-calibration techniques that compensate for the inherent variations of these processes. Our analog circuits are designed to be highly reusable across many of our products.

8

•

Custom Digital Signal Processors.    We have designed high-performance, low power usage digital signal processors for a broad range of applications. These processors are customized to execute our suite of advanced digital signal processing algorithms in real time at high speeds. For example, our latest generation read channel device performs several hundred billion operations per second.



•

Proprietary Digital Signal Processing Algorithms.    Our advanced digital signal processing algorithms enable data transmission at high speeds across a wide range of physical media with low data error rates. These digital signal processing algorithms improve performance in the presence of media imperfections such as substandard media, noise, signal-level degradation over distance, adjacent line and multi-path interference and signal echo. We have developed a broad suite of communications algorithms that can be utilized across many of our products.



•

Embedded Microprocessor Technology.    We have designed, developed and licensed high performance embedded microprocessor technology. Our embedded microprocessors can be integrated across our portfolio of our low cost, low power CMOS products. Embedding these advanced high performance microprocessors will allow our customers to integrate increasing levels of system functionality and sophistication with less power consumption and lower cost than by utilizing separate stand alone microprocessors.



•

Reusable Building Blocks for Integrated System-On-Chip Design.    We have developed a proprietary set of manufacturing process design rules that we believe are scalable over several generations of manufacturing process geometries. We have also collected a significant library of circuit building blocks that can be reused with modification in successive generations of products. These design methodologies allow us to reduce time-to-market for new products.



•

Internet Protocol Knowledge.    Internet Protocol technologies have been widely selected as the core technologies for converged networks. We have developed intimate knowledge in IP technologies. This has allowed us to develop integrated circuits that use IP technologies to deliver a comprehensive solution for networks where it is critical to effectively carry multiple types of media, to guarantee Quality of Service, to bill for services and establish service level agreements, to provide redundancy for high reliability and to effectively bridge to other technologies like PoS and ATM.

        Key benefits for our customers are:

•

High Performance.    Our products achieve high data transfer rates and low error rates when used with lower quality media and deliver superior signal transmission distance when used with standard media.



•

Low Power.    Our custom digital signal processors can use fewer transistors to perform data transfer functions than the standard designs used by some of our competitors, thereby reducing overall system power usage. We also implement our designs in advanced processes that can further reduce power requirements. These designs allow our customers to reduce costly heat reduction components in their products. Additionally, as many of our devices are targeted at consumer handheld devices, our low power consumption can greatly extend the battery life in such applications.



•

Cost-Effective.    We are able to lower our manufacturing costs by using advanced manufacturing processes and our custom digital signal processing technology. These processes and technologies allow us to use a smaller silicon chip size, which results in more integrated circuits per wafer. In addition, our products generate less heat, which allow us to use less expensive packaging technologies and achieve lower cost system implementations than for products that generate more heat. These manufacturing advantages reduce the cost of next-generation communications equipment, enabling our customers to offer their products at competitive prices.

9

•

High Integration Capability.    The combination of our manufacturing processes, small silicon chip size and low power requirements allows us to increase the number of functions in a single integrated circuit. These capabilities position us to integrate elements of our customers' designs, currently implemented in discrete integrated circuits, into our products. Integration reduces the overall number of components in a system, thereby reducing overall system cost.



•

Accelerated Time-to-Market.    We help our customers rapidly introduce higher performance and lower cost products. Many features of our integrated circuits are software-configurable, allowing our customers to customize circuit operation for their specific applications. In addition, although our customers have traditionally internally developed the key application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, for their network systems or have used programmable logic, such as field programmable gate-arrays, our customers have recently begun to outsource this product to us. We can develop these products more rapidly and at a lower cost while achieving higher performance than our customers could develop them internally because of the larger size of our potential market and the resources we dedicate to such functions. In product areas where reconfiguration or flexibility is important, we also offer software configurable control circuits and modules. Additionally, many of our new products are supported by evaluation boards and reference designs to accelerate our customer's development activities. Evaluation boards facilitate the adoption of our semiconductor devices by closely resembling actual end-products or subsystems within them. For our customers of switched Ethernet products we also offer complete production kits. Production kits are total system solutions that come complete with all hardware, software, manufacturing and documentation required for our customers to launch a new product into mass production with accelerated time to market.