Silicon Image Expands SteelVine Storage Footprint

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Silicon Image, Inc. (Nasdaq: SIMG), a leader in the secure distribution, presentation and storage of high-definition content, today added a new processor, the SiI 4726, to its SteelVine(TM) Storage Processor portfolio. With five high-speed (3 gigabit per second) SATA-II ports and best-in-class performance, the SiI 4726 pushes the boundaries of affordable, reliable and scalable Direct Attached Storage (DAS) solutions for the audio/video editing, small office/home office (SOHO) and small to medium-sized business (SMB) markets.

The SiI 4726 enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators to offer next generation plug-and-play storage solutions with performance levels previously available only in high-cost enterprise-class implementations.

The SiI 4726 can be configured for internal or external applications, and is designed to maximize uptime even in the face of multiple drive failures. It supports auto rebuild, auto fail over, hot swap and hot spare without the use of host resources. At a speedy 100 gigabytes per hour, the SiI 4726 quickly re-establishes a mirrored drive set after a failed drive has been replaced.

"As the digital video and video editing markets grow, there is an increasing need for easy-to-implement storage devices that protect information both in the home and in small to medium sized business," said Dave Reinsel, director of storage research at IDC. "We see external drives as a growing sector and believe data protection technologies such as SteelVine, that enable professional, yet consumer-friendly RAID strategies, will find acceptance among users looking to protect their digital archives."

"The SiI 4726 delivers the simplicity of a storage appliance and the performance required to run demanding applications such as video editing, video streaming, video surveillance and large data backups," said Jimmy Garcia-Meza, vice president of Silicon Image's storage products business. "There is no other processor in the industry today that delivers this kind of performance at this price point."

Capable of supporting up to 2.5 terabytes of storage, the SiI 4726 delivers over 230 megabytes per second of input/output throughput; supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10, concatenation, and JBOD (Port Multiplier) configurations; and is capable of enabling multiple RAID partitions on single hard drives, giving the OEM the flexibility to configure the processor to meet varying combinations of capacity, performance and data protection.

As with all SteelVine solutions, the SiI 4726 works with any SATA-compliant host port -- no driver, BIOS extension, or host software is required -- making the SiI 4726 completely operating system independent. This provides storage system manufacturers the ability to easily target devices with embedded operating systems such as personal video recorders (PVRs), medical equipment, and surveillance systems, as well as any PC or device that runs a commercial operating system such as Windows, Linux or MAC OS X.

At the CES show this week in Las Vegas, early adopters will be displaying systems based on the SiI 4726 SteelVine Storage Processor in Silicon Image's suite at Harrah's Las Vegas. Pricing and Availability

The SiI 4726 is available immediately, and is priced at $27.00 in 5K quantities. About Silicon Image, Inc.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Silicon Image, Inc. is a leader in the secure distribution, presentation and storage of high-definition content. Silicon Image creates and drives industry standards for digital content delivery such as DVI, HDMI and SATA, leveraging strategic partnerships with global leaders in consumer electronics and personal computing. Silicon Image offers robust, high-bandwidth semiconductors in the global PC/display, consumer electronics and storage arenas based on its innovative digital interconnect technology and has become one of the top ten IP licensing vendors in the world. For more information on Silicon Image, visit http://www.siliconimage.com. Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of federal securities regulations. These forward-looking statements include statements related to the capabilities and benefits of the SiI 4726 product, and the evolution of the market for storage devices. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those described from time to time in Silicon Image's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the capabilities and benefits of the SiI 4726 product, and the evolution of the market for storage devices, may differ materially from what is currently anticipated. In addition, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Factors Affecting Future Results" in the most recent Annual Report, Form 10-K or 10-Q filed by Silicon Image with the SEC. Silicon Image assumes no obligation to update this forward-looking information.