Press Releases
Intersil Announces Industry’s First Wireless LAN Chip Set Designed for the New IEEE 802.11g Draft Standard

IRVINE, CA, January 28, 2002 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), the world’s leading developer of silicon technology for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), announced today the industry’s first WLAN chip set designed to support the new 802.11g high-rate WLAN Draft Standard. Intersil’s PRISM GT chip set will enable wireless networking systems to attain data transmission speeds up to 54 million bits per second (Mbps), while remaining backward compatible to the existing installed base of over 15 million Wi-Fi systems worldwide.

Intersil’s newest WLAN solution will enable a next generation of high-data-rate platforms for operation in the 2.4 GHz band that deliver a five-fold speed increase. In addition, a 30 percent range advantage and lower power consumption are realized compared to systems operating in the 5 GHz spectrum. The chip set’s cost and performance advantages will make it an ideal solution for high-bandwidth enterprise applications, such as wireless video conferencing and large file transfers, as well as advanced home networking applications such as multi-channel CD-quality audio and DVD-quality video streaming.

PRISM GT incorporates the 802.11g Draft Standard’s mandatory modulation schemes – Complementary Code Keying (CCK), which is used in 802.11b, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), used in 802.11a. “We firmly believe the mandatory modulations specified by the draft standard will meet all the needs of the market,” said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of Intersil’s Wireless Networking business. “Using CCK ensures backward-compatibility with the installed Wi-Fi base, while OFDM provides the speed required for today’s high-bandwidth applications. The PRISM GT chip set is the world’s first complete chip set designed for 802.11g and will catalyze the market for high speed wireless connectivity.”

Intersil’s first generation PRISM GT OEM Kit will begin sampling in the second quarter of this year with full production slated for the third quarter. The PRISM GT solution takes advantages from Intersil’s industry-leading 802.11b chip sets, the direct down conversion architecture developed for PRISM® 3, and the digital signal processing expertise gained in the development of 5 GHz 802.11a products. The transceiver integrates the receiver, transmitter, synthesizer and filters onto a single chip, and interfaces directly with the Baseband Processor to provide system designers with a complete end-to-end WLAN chip set solution. The Medium Access Controller (MAC) includes enhanced security and network management features.

The PRISM GT transceiver is an RF-to-baseband solution that takes high frequency radio waves and directly converts them to baseband signals during reception, or directly up-converts them from the low-level baseband signal to radio frequency during transmission. This architecture completely eliminates the need for the intermediate frequency (IF) stage found in most radios. Eliminating the IF stage reduces complexity, bill-of-materials (BOM) and manufacturing costs, as well as enabling smaller form factors appropriate for portable, handheld devices.

Intersil’s turnkey solutions approach will include mini-PCI and CardBus32-PC Card reference designs. Also offered will be all the development tools an original equipment manufacturer will need to quickly bring 802.11g WLAN products to market. The reference design kit includes the PRISM GT chip set, complete schematics, Gerber and layout files, BOM, manufacturing test utilities, PRISM lab test diagnostic tools, FAB drawings (PC board), antenna construction details, a technology license agreement, manufacturing, mechanical and assembly drawings.

The Global Wireless Market Embraces PRISM WLAN Technology
“Intersil is the number one manufacturer of wireless LAN chipsets and has been a driving force behind the success of WLANs,” said a May 2001 WLAN report from Cahners In-Stat Group. Since introducing the PRISM WLAN chip set in 1996, industry-leading companies including Accton, Actiontec, Alcatel, ASUSTeK, Casio, Cisco, Compaq, 3Com, Dell, D-Link, GemTek, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Legend, Linksys, Nokia, Nortel, Panasonic, Quanta, Samsung, Sharp, Siemens, SOHOware, Sony, SpectraLink, Symbol, Z-Com and Zoom have incorporated PRISM chips in WLAN product designs. PRISM technology is designed to comply with the IEEE’s 802.11 global standard, and Intersil is a founding sponsor of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), whose Wi-Fi brand is a mark of compatibility for 802.11-based systems.

About Intersil
Intersil is a global leader in designing innovative wireless networking and high performance analog solutions that enable wireless access to video, data and voice in homes, offices and public places. Creating advanced power management products, Intersil provides reliable solutions for file servers, portable information appliances and over half of all computer microprocessors manufactured today. With a rich high performance analog and mixed signal portfolio, Intersil brings added value in providing complete silicon, software and reference design solutions to new products that bring portable connectivity to people wherever they live, work or travel. Headquartered in Irvine, California, Intersil has offices in cities throughout the US, Europe and Asia. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company's Web site and career page at www.intersil.com.


This press release contains information relating to certain projections and business trends concerning the WLAN market that are forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are based upon management’s current expectations, estimates, beliefs, assumptions, and projections about our business and industry. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will" and variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. Furthermore, any forward-looking statements and projections made by others in this press release are not adopted by Intersil Corporation (“Intersil”) and Intersil is not responsible for the forward-looking statements and projections of others. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors. Important risk factors that may cause such material differences for Intersil in connection with WLAN market include, but are not limited to: the recent economic slowdown; the rate at which consumers adopt small handheld Internet appliances and portable computing devices in enterprises and in homes; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Intersil’s wireless technologies and products, including our embedded LAN applications; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the loss of a key customer; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; silicon wafer pricing and the availability and quality of foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; the effectiveness of Intersil’s expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; intellectual property disputes, customer indemnification claims, and other litigation risks; Intersil’s ability to develop, market, and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; as well as other risk factors. Intersil’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and other Intersil filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (which you may obtain for free at the SEC’s Web site at www.sec.gov) discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this press release and Intersil undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements.

PRISM is a registered trademark and PRISM GT is a trademark of Intersil Americas Inc.
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