3Ware 2002 Annual Report Download - page 6

PART I
Item 1. BUSINESS.
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation was incorporated and commenced operations in California in 1979.
AMCC was reincorporated in Delaware in 1987. Certain statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K,
including statements contained in the sections entitled “Business” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”, constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Such forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. See “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”.
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, “Applied Micro Circuits Corporation”, “AMCC”, the “Company”,
“we”, “us” and “our” refer to Applied Micro Circuits Corporation and all of our consolidated subsidiaries.
Overview
We design, develop, manufacture and market high-performance, high-bandwidth silicon integrated circuit
(“IC”) solutions for the world’s wide area networks. We utilize a combination of high-frequency analog, mixed-
signal and digital design expertise coupled with system-level knowledge and multiple silicon process
technologies to offer IC products that enable the transport of voice and data over wide area networks. Our
customers include leading communications equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) such as Alcatel, Ciena, Cisco,
Fujitsu, Huawei, JDS Uniphase, Juniper, Lucent, Marconi, NEC, Nortel, ONI, OpNext, Redback,
Siemens/Unisphere, Sycamore, and Tellabs.
Our objective is to be the premier supplier of high-bandwidth silicon IC solutions for the world’s wide area
networks. Our strategy for achieving this objective includes:
• focusing on the wide area network markets, including the optical core, metropolitan area networks and
access networks;
• providing a time-to-market advantage to our customers by offering complete, fiber-through-switch
solutions and integrated product functionality; and
• leveraging our expertise in multiple silicon-process technologies to provide cost-effective, optimized
solutions.
Our products target the following communications semiconductor markets: Synchronous Optical Network
(“SONET”), Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (“SDH”), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (“ATM”), Dense Wave
Division Multiplexing (“DWDM”), and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. We provide our customers with complete silicon
IC solutions including physical media dependent (“PMD”) devices such as laser drivers, physical layer (“PHY”)
products such as transceivers, overhead processor products such as framers and mappers, and higher layer
products such as network processors and switch fabrics. Our products currently target data rates up to 40 gigabits
per second (a rate known as “OC-768”).
Industry Background
The Communications Industry
Communications technology has evolved from simple analog voice signals transmitted over networks of
copper telephone lines to complex analog and digital voice and data signals transmitted over hybrid networks of
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