Teradyne Connection Systems Joins HSBI to Develop Specifications for Interoperability at 5 Gb/s and Higher Speeds

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 2002--

Participation Supports Teradyne's Delivery of High-Bandwidth System

Solutions

Teradyne, Inc., (NYSE:TER) Connection Systems Division, a global supplier of high-performance connectors, multi-gigabit backplanes, and system integration and test services, today announced it has joined the High Speed Backplane Initiative (HSBI), a group of communications companies developing serial link technology capable of sending data at rates of 4.976 to 6.375 Gb/s across a backplane environment up to a distance of 30 inches including two connectors.

As increasing bandwidth needs drive higher backplane link speeds, all components of the system need to be addressed. Teradyne's high-speed, high-density connectors, such as VHDM-HSD(TM) and GbX(TM), currently support data rates up to 10 Gb/s. In addition, the company has advanced printed circuit board design and manufacturing capabilities as well as relationships with several semiconductor companies in order to best support this need for an integrated solution.

"Teradyne is committed to driving technology forward in response to our customers needs," said Tom Pitten, development engineering manager at Teradyne Connection Systems. "Our participation in HSBI is further demonstration of our commitment to providing integrated system solutions."

"The HSBI brings together leading networking, system, optical module, semiconductor, and connector companies from both the telecommunications and data communications markets, and we are pleased to announce Teradyne's commitment to developing interoperable solutions for higher speed backplanes," said John D'Ambrosia, secretary of the group. "Implementation Agreements are being developed that define electrical and logical conventions to be used when interfacing to the backplane environment at these higher speeds."

To address multi-protocol support, the HSBI is developing specifications for 8B10B, SONET/SDH, and 64B66B encoding schemes, so that they may be carried over an HSBI link. Work on the HSBI specification is scheduled for completion by the end of 2002. In addition to the actual specification, and interoperability test specification will also be released, which will enable interoperability testing of different vendor's HSBI links. For more information on the HSBI, please visit www.hsbi.org.

About Teradyne Connection Systems

Teradyne Connection Systems (TCS), a division of Boston-based Teradyne, Inc., provides high performance system solutions to industry leading OEMs, with printed circuit boards, high-speed, high-density connectors, multi-gigabit backplane assemblies and complete systems integration and test services. Teradyne's high-technology components and electronic manufacturing services are used by manufacturers of communications and computing systems central to building networking infrastructure. For more information visit http://www.teradyne.com/tcs.

Safe Harbor Statement of the HSBI Group under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release may contain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and certain assumptions made by us. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will" and variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and are based upon the information available to us at this time. Such information is subject to change, and we will not necessarily inform you of such changes. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. All trademarks mentioned in this release are properties of their respective owners.

“Implementation Agreements are being developed that define electrical and logical conventions to be used when interfacing to the backplane environment at these higher speeds.”