News & Events
Intersil Announces PRISM Partners Initiative to Support Rapidly<br>Growing PRISM WLAN Customer Base

— New program focuses on supporting customers’ PRISM integration and design requirements

IRVINE, CA, February 1, 2001 — Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), the world’s leading developer of silicon technology for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), today announced the formation of the PRISM Partners Initiative. This new initiative is targeted at recruiting highly qualified third-party developers and engineering services organizations to assist Intersil customers with new or ongoing PRISM^® integration efforts.

Intersil’s PRISM Partners Initiative will assist PRISM WLAN customers with design-in needs by engaging a highly specialized group of third-party developers and engineering services companies who have expertise in software development, testing, systems integration, certification and other areas of wireless LAN technology.

"Our mission is to continue developing advanced and high performance PRISM WLAN solutions optimized for high-data-rate wireless applications," said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager for PRISM Wireless Products at Intersil. "The PRISM Partners Initiative program is intended to help our customers bring technically advanced and full-featured IEEE 802.11 systems to market in the shortest amount of time."

Six companies, Celestica, Intelligraphics, L.S. Research, Neesus, Tecom and TriplePoint have signed on for the PRISM Partners Initiative and other companies are actively being identified to assist existing and future PRISM customers with PRISM-based integration efforts.

The following is more information on the six charter members of the PRISM Partners Initiative and their areas of expertise.

Celestica: Celestica is a global leader in the electronics manufacturing services industry. Celestica provides a broad range of services including design, prototyping, assembly, testing, product assurance, supply chain management, worldwide distribution and after-sales service. Its customers include industry leading original equipment manufacturers, primarily in the computer and communications sectors.

Intelligraphics: Intelligraphics is a recognized leader in device driver and system level software development, providing custom development services to manufacturers of intelligent systems in the PC, embedded, and telecommunications industries. Hardware manufacturers and system integrators throughout the world turn to Intelligraphics’ team of networking experts for their WLAN device driver development needs. TTCX, a subsidiary of Intelligraphics that specializes in hardware and software testing, provides testing services for PRISM drivers and WLAN software.

L.S. Research & L.S. Compliance: L.S. Research has been a leader in RF and wireless design services for more than 20 years. With a core competency of wireless product design and development, L.S. Research offers a broad range of engineering services including RF design, antenna design, software design, PCB layout, prototyping, product verification, and EMC testing. They are supported by their sister company L.S. Compliance, an accredited testing facility listed with the FCC. Together, L.S. Research and L.S. Compliance offer a complete solution for delivering wireless products to the market.

Neesus: Since its inception Neesus Datacom has used its expertise in wireless Local Area Networks, 802.11, and hardware and software development for the benefit of many wireless product vendors. While primarily involved in the licensing of 802.11 Client and Access Point Software for the OEM/VAR market, Neesus can also provide customization and enhancement of Intersil Development Driver packages.

Tecom: Tecom Industries, Inc., part of the TRAK Communications group of companies, was founded in January 1971. Tecom specializes in the design and manufacture of RF and microwave antennas, and antenna position control systems. Tecom is the leading provider of embedded, 802.11 and WLL antennas for the wireless communications industry, as well as, antennas for Satcom, aerospace and defense areas.

TriplePoint: TriplePoint develops software, under contract, for hardware OEMs located around the world. Everyone at TriplePoint has over 10 years of experience working close to the silicon (i.e. device drivers, BIOS, and embedded firmware). Network and communications device drivers, especially NDIS drivers, are our specialty.

To become a PPI third-party developer visit www.intersil.com/prism/ppi and complete the on-line application. For more information on the PRISM Partners Initiative contact: Mack Sullivan, Business Development and Marketing by e-mail at msulliva@intersil.com.

Adoption of PRISM WLAN Technology
Since introducing the PRISM WLAN chip set in 1996, over fifty companies have incorporated PRISM chips in more than 100 product designs. In a May 2000 report, Cahners In-Stat Group called Intersil "the dominant force in the WLAN chip set marketplace with their PRISM chip sets holding the majority of market share." 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. PRISM/work™ and PRISM/home™ products are used in WLAN systems from industry-leading companies including Alcatel, Cisco, Compaq, 3Com, Dell, D-Link, Linksys, Nokia, Nortel, Samsung, Scientific-Atlanta, Siemens, SOHOware, Sony, SpectraLink, Symbol and Zoom.

About Intersil
Intersil is a leading supplier of semiconductors, reference designs and software for wireless access and communications analog markets. Intersil applies analog, mixed-signal and radio frequency (RF) expertise to products that enable wireless access to broadband media; provide reliable power management for PCs, files servers and portable information appliances; and convert analog and digital signals in cellular and Internet infrastructure. For more information about Intersil, visit the company's Internet homepage 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 the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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 Holding 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 rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Intersil’s wireless technologies and products; 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 of foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; intellectual property disputes; as well as other risk factors detailed from time to time in Intersil’s filings with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission ("SEC") which you may obtain for free at the SEC’s website www.sec.gov. 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.

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PRISM is a registered trademark and PRISM/work and PRISM/home are trademarks of Intersil Americas Inc.

Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance.

All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.