News & Events
Intersil’s PRISM® II Technology Selected by SOHOware for New Consumer Wireless Networking Solutions

— Industry-leading CableFREE™ products incorporate PRISM II chip set

IRVINE, CA, November 16, 2000 — Intersil Corporation, the world’s leading developer of silicon technology for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), today announced that SOHOware, Inc., will use Intersil’s PRISM^® II WLAN chip set in their new CableFREE family of consumer wireless networking solutions.

SOHOware will incorporate the PRISM chip set into its new 11 megabit per second (Mbps) CableFREE NetBlaster II™ wireless bridge and wireless network interface cards for desktop and portable computers. SOHOware has already established a leadership position in wireless home networking with its CableFREE NetBlaster product family, which connect personal computers to cable/xDSL modems for high-speed Internet access sharing, as well as sharing peripherals and data resources among all PCs wirelessly connected to the LAN.

"This is further evidence that the already widely-adopted Intersil IEEE 802.11b solution is viable and cost-effective for wireless networking in the home," said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of PRISM Wireless Products at Intersil. "SOHOware’s products have well established retail channels so I believe their support of Wi-Fi™ (IEEE 802.11b) technology will make high speed wireless networking available to a broader population."

PRISM II is the most highly integrated WLAN chip set on the market today, delivering wired Ethernet-equivalent data rates and compliance to the IEEE’s 802.11b global standard. Optimized for high data rate (11Mbps) wireless networking, PRISM II-based systems are feature-rich and provide better, more reliable performance in all types of networking environments. Intersil’s 11 Mbps solutions have been in volume production for over 16 months. Ciaccia noted, "Our experience and ability to deliver cost-effective, low power solutions is resulting in a growing list of leading home and small office wireless customers like SOHOware."

"SOHOware is the only company that is 100 percent dedicated to providing residential and small office/home office (SOHO) consumers with a complete range of solutions that enable them to personalize the benefits of broadband technology without the need for information technology professionals," said Andy Chang, SOHOware vice president of marketing. "The 802.11b-compliant PRISM II technology allows us to offer consumers yet another feature set suitable for high data rate applications in a wireless environment."

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, Nokia, Nortel, Samsung, Siemens, SpectraLink, Symbol Technologies, and Zoom.

About SOHOware
SOHOware Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., develops and markets the industry's most complete line of broadband-centric home networking products and self-installation programs, providing the most consumer-friendly networking experience backed by excellent customer service and support for home and small office computer users. SOHOware's broadband-centric home networking family includes the Broadband Internet Gateway (BIG), broadband-sharing wired and CableFREE wireless home networking products. The company also plans to launch phoneline broadband solutions.

SOHOware-branded products are available at retail outlets including Best Buy, Fry's, Micro Center, THE WIZ and CompuSmart Canada, as well as through MSO/SOHOware co-branded e-commerce sites. SOHOware is a member of BlueTooth, HomePNA, the Wireless Ethernet Compliance Association (WECA), Universal Plug and Play Forum (UpnP) as well as the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and the California Cable Television Association (CCTA). For more information, call 800/632-1118 or visit the company's Web site at http://www.sohoware.com.

[Editor Note: SOHOware media contact: Paula Brici, Lagea & Associates, (949) 453-8080]

About Intersil
Intersil is a leading supplier of semiconductors, reference designs and software for wireless access and communications 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 statements relating to certain projections and business trends concerning the home and small office WLAN markets 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 home and small office WLAN markets 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.

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PRISM is a registered trademark of Intersil Corporation.

PRISM/work and PRISM/home are trademarks of Intersil.

CableFREE and NetBlaster II are trademarks of SOHOware.

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

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