HiperSonic™ Solution Handles 802.11a and HiperLAN/2 Seamlessly while Breakthrough DSP-based Technology Boasts Flexibility to Support Other Global Wireless Protocols

San Jose, CA and Dresden, Germany --July 9, 2001 - Systemonic, the leading provider of silicon-system solutions for multi-protocol, wireless communications applications, today announced availability of its H01 Baseband Processor, the first single-chip, baseband solution to seamlessly support both 802.11a and HiperLAN/2 protocol standards. This solution is already under evaluation by leading companies in consumer electronics, mobile and enterprise computing and wireless networking infrastructure markets. Also announced today was the immediate availability of the HiperSonic Reference Design Platform, a complete development system for use in rapid global wireless LAN system development.

"Global OEMs are demanding a single, flexible platform from which to support the different regional standards for wireless communications", said Ruediger Stroh, recently-appointed CEO of Systemonic. "They can't afford the time required to serially design one solution for North America, another for Europe and a third for Japan, not to mention spinning new designs every time a standard evolves. We're the first company to offer a single, flexible platform that allows them to simultaneously develop products for all regions."

Performance and Flexibility - The H01 Baseband Processor
Powered by a breakthrough technology based on a new, powerful DSP architecture developed specifically to support wireless communications, the H01 baseband processor is a complete physical layer implementation supporting high-speed data rates up to 60 Mb/s. This is achieved through the optimum combination of software execution and hardware acceleration. The flexible, processor-based architecture interfaces to multiple RF front ends allowing the OEM to use radios from different sources.

"We have developed a very powerful and flexible signal processing architecture and can be used to quickly develop DSPs that are tailored for specific applications; in this case global wireless LAN data applications", said Michael Bolle, Systemonic's Vice President of Engineering. "The ability to tailor each class of solution allows us the make trade-offs at the silicon level that translate into robust solutions for our customers. In these wireless LAN applications we can create higher performance solutions than other approaches and do it at lower power, making this solution ideal for both enterprise and portable products."

HiperSonic 1/2
The HiperSonic 1, manufactured in 0.18m CMOS, boasts on-board digital filters and high-performance A-D and D-A converters to improve selectivity, sensitivity and range. DES (data encryption standard) and TripleDES encryption are supported to increase security. Multiple modulation schemes are available and fully firmware-selectable, including BPSK, QPSK and 16 as well as 64 QAM. Operating at a miserly 120 MHz and dissipating less than 700 mW, this complete baseband solution is ideal for a wide variety of fixed, portable and mobile wireless access and client applications.

"Systemonic's solution has the flexibility and performance needed to deal with the real-world's cacophony of wireless communications standards", said Jack Quinn, President of Micrologic Research, a leading Phoenix-based market research firm. "Solutions based on a single standard simply won't be cost-effective in environments where multiple standards exist, and that will be more common-place in the very near future."

HiperSonic - Complete Reference Design Platform
A complete reference design platform, also available now, includes a single-chip, multi-protocol baseband processor, PC Card and PCI-bus MAC (media access control) implemented in a MIPS processor and a 5 GHz RF front end, as well as the requisite memory. Systemonic, a fabless chip house, provides a broad array of software-based solutions for this flexible, multi-processor-based architecture. That allows OEMs the freedom to differentiate their products on a variety of levels.

The market for semiconductor solutions in the wireless LAN market should be a multi-billion $ market, and it is just getting started", said Arnab K. Chanda, Senior Communications Components Analyst at Lehman Brothers. "However, we see the regional preferences for protocols as a major factor as this market develops. Companies, like Systemonic, that can offer cost-effective solutions that allow OEMs to design protocol-independent products should benefit."

Upgradability - the Key to Future Wireless LAN Systems
The HiperSonic Solution can also be upgraded with new firmware downloads. Thus as standards change, the physical and MAC layer processing can be modified. This capability helps global OEMs introduce new products, with updated standards compliance faster. It will also allow them to upgrade products in the field, through "over-the-air" upgrades, thereby extending the lifetime of mission-critical carrier-class and enterprise infrastructure systems as well as providing clients of those systems with the latest features and performance. This unique capability of the HiperSonic solution substantially reduces the total cost of ownership for OEMs striving to serve the ever-changing requirements of the global marketplace.

HiperSonic 1/3
The present HiperSonic solution supports both IEEE 802.11a and HiperLAN/2 today and will be extended to support other standards later this year. "We're already working on products that will support three, four or even five different standards at one time", said Jim Bland, Systemonic's newly-appointed Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "This is a multi-standard world. We intend to have the most extensive set of products and support to enable our customers to serve the global wireless needs of both enterprises and clients."

Price and Availability
The HiperSonic Development System is available now. It includes a 5 GHz radio, the H01 baseband processor, the NEC VR 4122, 64-bit MIPS processor, all required DRAM and Flash memory, and a variety of interfaces for test and measurement. Also included is a robust development software suite with complete protocol stacks for both IEEE 802.11a and HiperLAN2, complete PCI and PC Card interface protocols, and simple, effective APIs for the MIPS processor to allow rapid customer-specific extension development.

The H01 baseband processor, in 176-pin mBGA packaging, will be available in volume in the 4th quarter of 2001. Initial unit pricing in volume has been set at $28.00.

About Systemonic
Systemonic is a wireless communications platform provider that delivers complete Silicon System Solutions that power wireless data, video and voice networks across standards, across the world. Its flexible, re-configurable platform allows customers to bring wireless communications products that support multiple standards to market faster, with more features, lower power consumption and at a lower total cost of ownership.

In November 2000, Systemonic completed second round funding of USD 30 million from an investment consortium led by Atlas Venture and APAX Europe IV, including, Krone mt, and Lehman Brothers.

Systemonic was founded in 1999 after four years of research at the University of Dresden.

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