Primarion Awarded Patent for Breakthrough Power Architecture of Advanced Microprocessors

Primarion has been awarded a patent for its unique, digitally precise power architecture by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. Patent No. 6,429,630). This fundamental technology is designed to keep systems on Moore's Law, overcoming a chief barrier to future system performance: power stymied by increased noise and transient events. The Primarion patent discloses a tiered power regulator system for supplying power to microelectronic devices. The system includes an array of regulators, with each providing a portion of power required to operate advanced computing devices. The breakthrough technology is working in systems today and is expected to soon be in high-volume production.

Led by Primarion Chief Technology Officer and former Intel microprocessor innovator, Bill Pohlman, the patent for the invention of "An Apparatus for Providing Regulated Power to an Integrated Circuit" is key to the company's overall power architecture and its mission of keeping multi-GHz-based systems on track with advanced processor performance through the application of wideband digital power and optical datacom technologies. Mike Eisele, a Primarion vice president, is the patent's co-inventor.

"Several years ago, we set out to support multi-GHz processor-based systems in a manner that was not well understood by the industry at the time," Pohlman said. "Today, we mark a milestone where this fundamental technology is secured--a technology enabling processors to execute in lower noise environments at much lower voltages. We offer a patented, proven methodology for accelerating system performance through our digital power ICs tailored for today's advanced processors. We look forward to continued success as we obtain additional patents in this area, as well as in the area of optical datacom. Taken together, building blocks from Primarion enable communications at the speed of computing for the first time."

For more information, contact Primarion at www.primarion.com, [email protected], or 1-866-321-PRIM.