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      STACKER NOTE                                         STACKER NOTE
         STAC INTRODUCES HIGH-SPEED DATA COMPRESSION CHIP FOR MODEMS
            Stac 9410 Promises Impressive Cost Savings for Modem
                                Manufacturers
      STAC FAX  1127 (10-25-1994)
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      SAN DIEGO, Calif., October 24, 1994 - Stac Electronics (NASDAQ:
      STAC), the leading supplier of compression products for data
      storage and communication, today announced the Stac* 9410 V.42bis
      data compression accelerator.  The 9410 offers improved
      performance, reduced power consumption and reduced board area all
      at a great cost savings by allowing modem manufacturers to use 8-
      bit rather the 16-bit CPUs.
      
      "Using Stac's 9410 will give a modem manufacturer a significant
      competitive advantage for both cost and performance," said Robert
      Lutz, Stac's semiconductor product manager.
      
      Modems today typically use software on an internal CPU to
      implement data compression.  But, this software implementation
      can consume more than 80 percent of its CPU overhead to perform
      the task of compressing and decompressing data.  As a result, as
      modem speeds have increased, the CPU has had to become more 
      powerful to meet the needs of higher throughput and the increased 
      compression/decompression requirements. Stac's 9410 eliminates 
      the speed bottleneck of compression, allowing a low cost 8-bit 
      CPU to be used for high performance V.34 (28.8kb/s) modems.
      
      By incorporating Stac's new chip into their designs, modem
      manufacturers will realize performance benefits and cost
      reductions which can then be passed on to their customers.  As
      shown in the chart above, modems based on 8-bit CPUs fall far
      short on the performance benchmarks.  However, modems based on 
      more powerful 16-bit CPUs are too expensive.  By comparison, 
      the Stac 9410 offers 16-bit performance with a low-cost 8-bit 
      design.
      
      "This chip will set a new standard of performance and price,"
      said Gary Clow, Stac's president and chief executive officer.
      "Modem users will no longer have to sacrifice modem speed for low
      cost.  Modems that don't use Stac's V.42bis accelerator will miss
      the market by either being too slow compared to the competition,
      or too expensive."
      
      For PCMCIA modem manufacturers and their customers, the 9410
      offers additional benefits.  For manufacturers, the fact that
      less RAM and ROM is needed (8-bit instead of 16-bit) reduces the
      total board area required for the modem.  Also, less heat will be
      generated by the CPU. For end users, the ability to get 16-bit
      performance with an 8-bit CPU means lower cost, and lower power
      consumption for longer battery life.
      
      "8-bit modems simply can't keep up with the fast V.34 standard,
      and 16-bit modems have too high of a manufacturing cost," said
      Lutz.  "But, an 8-bit modem with the 9410 reduces costs, and will
      outperform even a 16-bit modem.  We are not talking about saving
      a few pennies here and there--we are talking about reducing the 
      modem manufacturing costs by several dollars."
      
       Cost Savings with Stac's 9410
        16-bit Modem         8-bit Modem            8-bit Modem
        w/o 9410             w/9410 (Example #1)    w/9410 (Example #2)
      
       68302      $16.00     8051          $2.00    L39           $8.00
      
      16-bit RAM   $5.00     8-bit RAM      $2.50   8-bitRAM      $2.50
      16-bit EPROM $7.00     8-bit EPROM    $4.00   8-bit EPROM   $4.00
                             9410           $7.00   9410          $7.00
      Sub-Total   $28.00                   $15.50                $21.50
      
      Total Savings w/9410                  $12.50                $6.50
      
      Pricing and Availability
      The 9410 is available in sample quantities today.  Full volume
      shipments are expected during the first quarter of 1995, priced
      at about $7.00 in 100,000 unit quantities.  Evaluation boards are
      available from Stac for Rockwell's L39, and Intel's 8051 and
      80188 processors.  The Stac 9410 offers true V.34 performance
      even with these low-cost CPUs.  A 9410 evaluation upgrade option
      is also available for Rockwell's WCEM modem evaluation platform.
      
      The Company
      Stac Electronics is the leading supplier of high performance
      compression products for data storage and communications.
      Implemented in software and silicon, Stac's products are sold
      direct from the company and through retail and OEM sales
      distribution channels worldwide.
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      Copyright 1994 Stac Electronics
