Discera Ushers in Next-Generation Device for $3.5B Timing Market

SAN JOSE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 26, 2007 -- Discera, Inc., a world leader in CMOS MEMS resonator technology and provider of next-generation timing solutions, today announced the availability of its MOS1 MEMS-based oscillator series. Proven, tested and endorsed by one of the leading quartz timing vendors, Discera's MEMS solution is set to disrupt the traditional quartz crystal timing market. MOS1 can be used as a direct replacement for quartz crystal oscillators as a timing device in a market estimated at $3.5 billion.

Discera's partner, Vectron International, a leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of Frequency Control, Sensor, and Hybrid Product solutions, announced they are successfully sampling the MOS1 product to customers, with volume production expected this summer (See "Discera and Vectron Ship MEMS-based Oscillators to Customers").

"MEMS timing devices have been anticipated for a long time," said Ed Grant, vice president North American products and operations, Vectron. "In our opinion, Discera is the leading company from a product capabilities perspective. Their solution simultaneously solves problems of the quartz timing market with a product that is scalable, reliable, low power and flexible."

The result of years of concentrated research and development, Discera's MOS1 is poised to enable electronics companies to overcome the challenges posed by quartz crystal technology, which is pushing the limits of its scalability, costs, and processing technology. The promise of reduced costs and smaller product footprint offered by MEMS, has, until now, been offset by concerns about silicon resonators and reliability. These concerns included frequency stability over temperature cycling, aging, vibration operation and shock resistance.

The delivery of the MOS1 oscillator product based on Discera's PureSilicon™ resonator overcomes these concerns. Discera's technology consists of a silicon MEMS resonator and an ASIC embedded within a conventional QFN package or ceramic package. The MOS1 oscillator family generates frequencies between 1 to 125 MHz with excellent temperature and jitter performance and is packaged in a tiny industry standard IC package, providing a significant cost advantage. The MOS1 family of oscillators has passed industry standard qualification tests, as well as extreme reliability tests, demonstrating superior mechanical reliability compared to standard Bulk Acoustic Wave quartz solutions, and is ready to ship in production volumes.

Discera's product has passed all XO requirements with the following features:

--  Lower costs: Discera sees a path of 15 percent cost reduction every
    year while quartz crystal companies are running at a 10-20 percent margin
    and unable to offer significant cost reductions to their customers.
    
--  Shorter lead time: Provides a unique way to define the oscillator
    frequency anywhere between 1MHz-125MHz with a resolution of 2ppm. Unlike
    most of the programmable oscillators which only provide a limited number of
    frequencies, Discera can provide almost any frequency.
    
--  Better reliability: CMOS MEMS oscillators can reach performance
    requirements and costs at least 100 times lower than quartz crystal
    oscillators in special applications for extreme environments. Testing shows
    Discera's resonators survived 30,000g of shock with no degradation in
    performance and can be even more robust with industry standard packaging
    techniques.
    

Discera's CTO, Wan-Thai Hsu, was named an "Innovator of the Year" finalist for 2006, in the Third Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards (http://www.eetimes-ace.com), for his work in bringing MEMS-based oscillators to reality. Discera recently demonstrated its technology as a plug-and-play direct replacement of quartz crystal in a camcorder device at the Electronica show. 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. Since the oscillator is the heartbeat of all electronic systems, the impact of the MEMS oscillator does not only affect the timing market but essentially all the systems.

The complete resonator model together with the circuit block enables system designers to take advantage of the ultra reliable, low-cost oscillators for a very wide range of applications.

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.

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