1. Hardware Engineering

With more than 160 hardware engineers, DNI's hardware design team is one of the most capable in the industry. Specializing in network products, DNI's hardware design team focuses on high frequency device engineering, complex multilayer PCB layout (up to 14 layers), thermal simulation, power supply application, and temperature control.

1.1 Core Competencies

Below is a list of DNI's hardware design team's core competencies.

Thermal simulation and power supplies are two items that are worth emphasizing. Power supplies are the core business of DEI, and thermal properties are vital in power supply design. DEI has amassed a wealth of data on the thermal properties of various devices. DNI is able to leverage that knowledge and perform accurate thermal simulations to ensure that our product design is viable even before sample production. This capability is the envy of the industry, for without a rich database thermal simulations are often marred by errors even with the most sophisticated tools.

With power supply acquisition, DNI is again able to leverage the resources of DEI and come up with novel system designs that are head and shoulders above the competition. Case in point is our Power-over-Ethernet product line, where we are able to call upon the expertise of DEI and have various power supplies custom-made exclusively for us. This kind of relationship goes a long way in helping DNI establish a foothold with customers whose quality standards are rigorous and unforgiving.

1.2 Product Line

The breadth and depth of DNI's product line is a testament to the hardware engineering team's superior capability. Below is a pictorial presentation of our portfolio.

In short, the product line is divided into three categories, addressing various segments in the networking market.

Our broadband portfolio consists of products that are sold to TEMs and carriers to facilitate effective broadband deployments. DNI has a complete line of ADSL products, ranging from modems, IAD, all the way up to IPDSLAM. DNI's strategy in this arena lies not just with large-scale manufacturing, but with the notion that higher integration will add higher value to both DNI and its customers. Therefore, offering a complete product line, not just the low-hanging fruit, is the foundation of DNI's success in broadband products.

Our SOHO product line is where hardware engineers hone their RF engineering skills (more on RF in a later section) as well as low-cost design ability. It's no secret that the competition in the retail SOHO market is cut-throat, and without the ability to come up with a cost-effective design, one simply cannot participate in that market. DNI's complete line of 802.11 WiFi products is engineered to satisfy the retail SOHO market's insatiable appetite for high-performance, yet low-cost home networking equipment.

Enterprise switching is where DNI got its start almost a decade ago. Today, this product line encompasses everything from low port count unmanaged switches all the way to advanced layer 3 routing switches. Most of these products are sold to enterprises and carriers that often operate their devices under harsh and unforgiving conditions, and DNI's engineering team is able to rise to that challenge by consistently delivering products that meet the highest expectations.

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1.3 Design Process

DNI is an ISO-certified company. The engineering team follows a standard set of procedures and generates appropriate documents every step of the way. Below is a high level summary of DNI's 5-phase design process.

Critical in the development is the review process in Phase 1 and Phase 2. Once the design engineer is finished with the schematic or layout design, his work is reviewed by his peers to make certain that mistakes are caught and corrected before the PCB goes out to fab. The side benefit of the review process is that experience and know-how are often passed on from senior staff to junior engineers in review meetings, ensuring that future development efforts will also benefit from past experience. DNI's hardware engineering team takes great pride in fostering such an open culture.

Among DNI's customers are some of the tier-1 TEMs with stringent requirements on process and documentation. DNI's by-the-book approach to engineering process has earned the trust of Tier-1 customers and enabled us to foster a close-knit relationship with the customer's own engineering team, thereby further fueling the robust growth DNI has experienced in the past few years.

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