News & Events
Intersil's Dual-Band 802.11a, b & g Reference Designs Receive Wi-Fi Certification — Guarantees 100% Interoperability with All Wi-Fi Certified WLAN Products

-- PRISM GT solution scheduled for Wi-Fi Certification testing this week~-- PRISM Nitro™ technology dramatically increases 802.11a & g throughput by up to 50%~-- PRISM Duette delivers seamless compatibility for WLANs operating in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands

MILPITAS, CA, July 8, 2003 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog and wireless networking solutions, announced today that its PC card and AP reference designs based on the innovative PRISM Duette chip set have passed all interoperability testing and have received Wi-Fi® 802.11a, b & g Certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance. The PRISM Duette reference designs are amongst the first WLAN products incorporating the new 802.11g standard to receive Wi-Fi Certification. Intersil’s innovative PRISM GT 802.11g solution is scheduled for Wi-Fi Certification testing this week.

“The Wi-Fi Alliance symbol on an end product gives assurance to buyers that it will work with the Wi-Fi certified systems of other vendors. All such systems are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, widely recognized as the most important global standard for high-rate data communications,” said Larry Ciaccia, Vice President and General Manager of Intersil’s Wireless Networking Product Group. “Intersil has a long history of leadership in both IEEE standards development as well as the Wi-Fi Alliance. Intersil was a founding member of the Alliance and was instrumental in driving the 802.11g standard. With this important milestone the broad global base of Intersil customers now have a guarantee of inter-operability to go with our quickly-deployable and proven reference designs that carry the seal of approval from the FCC, Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) and Wi-Fi Alliance.”

Comprehensive Security Enhancements
PRISM Duette fully supports WPA and the IEEE 802.11i draft security standard with high-speed encryption capabilities for both the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Intersil has also integrated within the drivers and reference design solutions of the PRISM Duette chip set, Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) support and Meetinghouse’s AEGIS Authentication API to enable fast, easy-to-implement compliance with 802.11i, WPA and CCX. Intersil’s industry leading security solution also works with Funk Software’s Odyssey® Client WLAN access control and security system to provide interoperability and promote ease of use with virtually all major Windows operating systems.

SingleSource™ and PRISM Nitro
Designed to 100% compliance to the IEEE 802.11 wireless standards, the PRISM Duette solution incorporates Intersil’s SingleSource Driver Suite with PRISM Nitro technology and sets new standards in world-class power, performance, software and security. PRISM Nitro software solution provides up to a 3x improvement in performance for 802.11g clients operating in mixed-mode wireless networks and up to 50% greater throughput performance in 802.11a or g only networks. The PRISM Duette chip set also integrates the WLAN industry’s best-in-class power management solution and achieves the lowest standby current, receive current and average idle current of any dual-band (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz) WLAN chip set. Intersil is providing the industries most comprehensive security suite that will allow its customers to seek Wi-Fi® Protected Access (WPA) certification for all PRISM-based products.

Best-in-Class Power Management
The PRISM Duette solution includes new power management technology that has the lowest standby current, receive current and average idle current in direct testing against competitor’s WLAN solutions. The Power Save Mode feature allows PRISM Duette to save up to 35% receive mode current versus competitive solutions. PRISM Duette consumes significantly lower power than competitive solutions over a wide range of user activity; this equates to longer battery life for mobile handheld and notebook users. About Intersil
Intersil Corporation is a global semiconductor leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog and wireless networking solutions. Intersil’s product portfolios address four fast growing markets – flat panel displays, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable), power management and wireless networking. Intersil brings added customer value in providing complete silicon, software and reference design solutions to new products that enhance the computing experience for people wherever they live, work or travel. 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 release may include "forward looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For information identifying economic, political, climatic, currency, regulatory, technological, competitive and some other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements, see Intersil’s Safe Harbor Forward Looking Statement disclaimer found at http://www.intersil.com/legal.asp, as well as Intersil’s SEC filings as updated from time to time, found at http://www.sec.gov. PRISM Duette, PRISM GT, PRISM Nitro and SingleSource are trademarks of Intersil Americas Inc.
Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Protected Access are registered trademarks of the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Odyssey is a registered trademark of Funk Software.
All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.