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NETGEAR's 802.11g Access Point, Powered by Intersil's PRISM GT WLAN Solution, Garners Editors’ Choice Award in CNET and ZDNet Review

“With its outstanding performance and compatibility with 802.11b gear, NETGEAR's WG602 delivers on the promise of the upcoming 802.11g standard”⁽¹⁾~-- PRISM GT technology provides 100% backward compatibility with 802.11b WLAN equipment

MILPITAS, CA, May 5, 2003 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog and wireless networking solutions, congratulates NETGEAR, Inc., a worldwide provider of easy-to-use, high performance networking products, on the selection of the NETGEAR WG602 802.11g Access Point by CNET and ZDNet for an Editors’ Choice award.

The NETGEAR WG602 access point is powered by Intersil’s PRISM GT™ chip set, which delivers the industries highest performance and most compliant 802.11g features. PRISM GT combines the speed of 802.11a, with the range of 802.11b and is totally compatible with any existing 802.11b radio. According to the CNET and ZDNet review, “The NETGEAR WG602 54Mbps wireless access point beat the competition in both g-only and mixed-mode (802.11b and 802.11g) environments.”⁽¹⁾ The complete reviews can be found at:
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-7052-404-20930577.html and
http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/stories/overview/0,12069,589834,00.html

Designed to be fully compliant with the 802.11g Draft Standard, the NETGEAR WG602 Wireless Access Point offer customers speeds of up to five times faster than current 802.11b WLAN products found in homes, businesses and public hotspots. Since both 11g and 11b products operate on the same 2.4 GHz radio band, the new NETGEAR WG602 802.11g access point is compatible with the existing installed base of over 40 million 802.11b systems worldwide. Since 802.11g support both 11b and 11g operation, users can protect their investment in existing 802.11b infrastructure, and migrate their network clients to the new, much faster 802.11g standard.

PRISM GT is the solution of choice for 11g performance, because it fully supports protection mechanisms now required by IEEE TGg version 8.1, the latest revision to the 802.11g draft standard. Full protection mechanism support ensures complete co-existence and optimal performance when operating in the presence of legacy 802.11b equipment.

“By choosing PRISM GT, NETGEAR is delivering industry leading 802.11g performance. Some of the other WLAN suppliers claim backward compatibility, but their 802.11g solutions can actually crash heavily loaded networks,” said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of Intersil’s Wireless Networking Product Group. Intersil has solved the industry’s 802.11 b & g compatibility issue, and increased overall throughput in all environments and this has been recognized by virtue of this award.” 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

⁽¹⁾ http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-7052-404-20930577.html

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 GT is a trademark of Intersil Americas Inc.
All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.