Mercury Computer Systems Introduces the Industry's First VXS Multicomputer System

CHELMSFORD, Mass., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY) announced it has expanded the PowerStream(R) integrated multicomputer family with the PowerStream 6100, the industry's first 6U VME system based on the Serial RapidIO(R) interconnect fabric and compliant with the VXS (VITA 41.2) form factor standard. At 761 GFLOPS and 42 GB/s sustained fabric throughput, the PowerStream 6100 sets a new record for performance available in the VME form factor.

The performance of key portions of signals intelligence and radar applications today are limited by fabric throughput capability, as sampling rates continue to increase in data acquisition devices. The addition of Serial RapidIO to the VME platform can nearly quadruple the amount of bandwidth that can be sampled by signals intelligence systems when compared to today's RACE++(R) fabric-enabled VME systems, the highest performing open-standard systems currently on the market. Similarly, VXS (VITA 41) can increase the number of radar/SIGINT antenna channels in a given system by nearly four times.

Further, RapidIO can transmit data in both directions simultaneously, so application performance could increase by almost eight times when compared with fabric-enabled VME solutions available today. A key measure of fabric connectivity is bisection bandwidth which improves to 24 GB/s with the PowerStream 6100 -- greater than ten times better than today's highest performing VME system. These improvements directly translate into a smaller system footprint, lower cost, reduced power consumption, and/or higher performance for military sensor manufacturers.

The PowerStream 6100 incorporates the recently announced Mercury Momentum(TM) Series VPA-200 dual-PowerPC 7448 VXS host/PMC carrier module, and the Echotek(TM) Series 3000T and 5000T RF radio frequency tuner modules. With additional VXS-compliant modules and robust system software, the PowerStream 6100 expands Mercury's multicomputer offering and fulfills the strategic vision articulated in the course of Mercury's acquisitions of Advanced Radio Corp., Momentum Computer and Echotek Corp.

Today's announcement includes the following system component modules:

* PowerQUICC 8540 VME host controller and dual-PMC carrier.

* Echotek Series ECV4-4 quad-channel, wideband A/D receiver and FPGA

compute module based on the Xilinx Virtex-4 processor.

* High Compute Density (HCD) Card with Quad PowerPC 7448 processors that

provide 761 GFLOPS when configured with 68 1.4-GHz processors.

* Serial RapidIO Fabric Switch Card supporting inter-board switching

between 18 VXS payload cards at a sustained system throughput exceeding

42 GB/s. The Fabric Switch Card is based upon Mercury's recently

announced MC432 RapidIO switch semiconductor solution.

* A comprehensive family of fully integrated PMC I/O cards that provide

basic I/O and other functions: Fibre channel, MIL-STD 1553, Flash

memory, non-volatile storage, bulk memory expansion, video capture,

video display, CameraLink, IRIG, GPS, A/D and D/A (in addition to our

own Echotek Series), serial controllers, parallel GPIO, SCSI,

Asynchronous Transfer Mode, Firewire, Serial FPDP, Gigabit Ethernet,

RACEway and more. "The VXS market has emerged somewhat slowly in the form of miscellaneous standalone modules and components -- an FPGA card here, a host card there," remarked Jonathan Schonfeld, Vice President of Market Development for Mercury's Defense business. "The PowerStream 6100 greatly simplifies the task of integrating and deploying compute infrastructure for our military contractor customers by offering data acquisition, mixed-signal, DSP, FPGA, and I/O modules seamlessly integrated in a COTS multicomputer. This functionality was not available in the VXS form factor prior to today." The VXS form factor is backward-compatible with the VME64 standard, providing defense integrators with a seamless migration path to future systems that support a high-speed serial switched fabric. PowerStream 6100 delivers "compile-and-go" compatibility with the Mercury RACE++(R) Series 6U VME64 multicomputer, which is based on the Mercury MCOE(TM) open software environment. MCOE is an integrated and sophisticated development environment comprising tools, libraries, and middleware that runs on all of the Mercury PowerStream Series systems, which are currently built around the 3U CompactPCI, 6U VXS and high-end multiport form factors. MCOE is used by thousands of developers worldwide in diverse multicomputer applications. MCOE on the PowerStream 6100 supports the Linux and VxWorks operating systems in addition to MCexec(TM), Mercury's ubiquitous and robust POSIX-compliant real- time kernel.

Co-founded by Mercury Computer Systems, RapidIO is a proven, scalable switch fabric architecture specifically designed to be attuned to the needs of embedded OEMs and military contractors. The RapidIO Trade Association, where Mercury serves as a steering committee member, has grown to become a vibrant community of nearly 50 members. Mercury edited the VITA 41.2 standard which implements RapidIO as a VXS fabric.

The VXS standard was completed under the auspices of the VMEbus International Trade Association (VITA) for which Mercury serves on the board of directors. Mercury is continuing its extensive involvement in the VITA standards working groups that are actively renewing the VMEbus architecture and ecosystem and advocating commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions for existing and emerging market applications. Mercury is also editing the VPX (VITA 46) and REDI (VITA 48) standards which will complement the PowerStream 6100 in Mercury's product portfolio.

The PowerStream 6100 is available today within standard lead times, with a next-generation processor upgrade planned for production in mid-2007. Mercury currently expects to ship the first PowerStream 6100 system this month, with a demonstration planned for the Bus and Board conference in Long Beach, California on January 16-17, 2006. For more information on the PowerStream 6100, visit http://www.mc.com/powerstream6100. About Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY) is the leading provider of high-performance embedded, real-time digital signal and image processing computer systems. Mercury's products play a critical role in a wide range of applications, transforming sensor data to information for analysis and interpretation. In military reconnaissance and surveillance platforms the Company's systems process real-time radar, sonar, and signals intelligence data. Mercury's systems are also used in state-of-the-art medical diagnostic imaging devices including MRI, PET, and digital X-ray, and in semiconductor imaging applications including photomask generation and wafer inspection. Mercury provides advanced 3D image processing and visualization software and optimized systems to diverse end markets including life sciences, geosciences, and simulation. The Company also provides radio frequency (RF) products for enhanced communications capabilities in military and commercial applications.

Based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Mercury serves customers in North America, Europe and Asia through its direct sales force and a network of subsidiaries and distributors. Visit Mercury on the web at http://www.mc.com. Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the PowerStream 6100 system. You can identify these statements by our use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company's markets, effects of continued geo-political unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology, and methods of marketing, delays in completing engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, continued funding of defense programs, the timing of such funding, changes in the U.S. Government's interpretation of federal procurement rules and regulations, market acceptance of the Company's products, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses, and achieving anticipated synergies, and difficulties in retaining key customers. These risks and uncertainties also include such additional risk factors as are discussed in the Company's recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2005. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made. Contacts:

Eran Strod

Director of Product Marketing, Defense Business

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.

978-967-1737 / estrod@mc.com Kathy Donahue

Public Relations Manager

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.

978-967-1126 / kdonahue@mc.com MCexec and MCOE are trademarks, and PowerStream and RACE++ are registered trademarks of Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. Product and company names mentioned may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.