News & Events
Intersil Unveils Lower Cost, Small Form Factor RF/IF Converter and Synthesizer

— New smaller form factor RF/IF joins the PRISM WLAN portfolio

IRVINE, CA, October 26, 2000 — Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), the world’s leading developer of silicon technology for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), announced today the addition of a new RF/IF Converter and Synthesizer to its PRISM^® portfolio. The new ISL3685 RF/IF Converter is two-thirds smaller than the PRISM HFA3683A, employing Amkor’s Micro Lead Frame (MLF) Packaging.

"The ISL3685’s smaller form factor makes it well suited for a variety of small, portable wireless appliances based on the widely adopted IEEE 802.11b standard, " said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager for PRISM Wireless Products at Intersil. "The market is requiring highly integrated chip sets that enable wireless LAN functionality to be built into a new class of portable devices for work and home use. This new RF/IF Converter is further evidence of our ongoing effort to meet that need. "

The new ISL3685 RF/IF delivers 11 megabit-per-second (Mbps) performance in compliance with the IEEE 802.11b standard for wireless LANs. Its variable data rate allows operation at 1, 2, 5.5 or 11Mbps and it is backward compatible with older WLAN equipment operating at the 1 and 2 Mbps data rate.

Technical Features
The new ISL3685 is a highly integrated, monolithic silicon germanium (SiGe) half duplex RF/IF transceiver designed to operate in the 2.4GHz Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. The receiver chain features a gain selectable, low noise amplifier (LNA) followed by a down-converter mixer. The transmit chain’s configuration includes an up-converter mixer and a high performance preamplifier. The high frequency Phase Locked Loop (PLL) synthesizer has a three-wire programmable interface for local oscillator applications.

A reduced filter count is realized by multiplexing the receive and transmit IF paths and by sharing a common differential matching network. Both transmit and receive RF amplifiers can be directly connected to mixers as bandwidth characteristics attenuate image frequencies.

Availability, Production, Packaging and Pricing
The ISL3685 is available now for sampling and is scheduled to enter full production by the end of the year. The ISL3685 is housed in a 44 lead MLFP package well suited for PCMCIA board and mini-PCI applications. The ISL3685 RF/IF is priced at $3.90 in 500K quantities.

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, the Cahners In-Stat Group called Intersil "the dominant force in the WLAN chip set marketplace with their PRISM chipsets holding the majority of market share. " PRISM technology is designed to comply with the IEEE’s 802.11b 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 802.11b-based systems. PRISM chips are used in WLAN systems from industry-leading companies including Alcatel, Cisco, Nokia, Siemens, Compaq, 3Com, Dell, Nortel, Samsung, D-Link, SpectraLink, Symbol Technologies and Zoom.

About Intersil
Irvine, California-based Intersil uses its semiconductor expertise to enable highly integrated voice, data and video communications. Intersil's integrated communications portfolio includes PRISM^® Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) chip sets that enable mobile connectivity products for the home and office; analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for broadband access to wireless and wired Wide Area Networks (WANs); and power management products that enable 24x7 reliability in network servers, next generation PCs and information appliances. 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 consumers adopt small handheld Internet appliances, 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.

For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements, please refer to Intersil's filings with the SEC including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, its Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended, and the amendment to Registration Statement on Form S-4 recently filed by Intersil.

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PRISM is a registered trademark of Intersil Corporation.

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

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