SAN JOSE, Calif., HSIN-CHU, Taiwan, Feb. 25, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- ParthusCeva, Inc. (Nasdaq:PCVA) (LSE:PCV), the leading licensor of digital signal processors (DSP) and application-specific platform Intellectual Property (IP) to the semiconductor industry, and Macronix (Nasdaq:MXICY) announced today that Macronix have completed a licensing agreement to deploy ParthusCeva's BlueStream platform to enable Bluetooth connected portable devices.
Under the licensing agreement's terms, Macronix, Taiwan's leading wireless semiconductor company, will use the BlueStream baseband and software protocol stack to develop Bluetooth products with leading OEMs in the Asia-Pacific region. Macronix plans to roll-out its Bluetooth solution in early 2003.
Bluetooth is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for wireless communication between a range of electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and handheld devices. By eliminating the need for cables between inter-connecting devices, individuals can share voice and data using fast and secure local wireless connections. Research Group In-Stat/MDR revealed that Bluetooth shipments hit 35 million by the end of 2002, with compound annual growth forecast at 118% between 2001-2006.
"We believe that Bluetooth will be a critical technology to help connect millions of devices without wires," said Mr. J.P. Peng, vice president of Macronix. "By working closely with a trusted partner like ParthusCeva whose platform provides Macronix a rapid development cycle, we will be able to deploy a full Bluetooth solution more quickly and at a significant savings in our internal development costs."
"The Asian market is clearly leading the way in next generation wireless adoption and device innovation. The addition of Macronix as a lead customer in Taiwan adds to our expanding presence in the Asia-Pacific region," said Gerry Maguire, general manager of wireless technologies at ParthusCeva. "Bluetooth is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative wireless markets. Deploying our BlueStream IP delivers the fastest time-to-market for companies targeting this high growth market."
About BlueStream
ParthusCeva BlueStream is a flexible, silicon proven platform designed for ease of integration in System-on-a-Chip subsystems. The BlueStream platform contains all required deliverables for OEMs, semiconductor, ASIC and fabless customers to rapidly design Bluetooth(TM) technology into their ASICs and ASSPs.
The ParthusCeva BlueStream delivers the complete Bluetooth Platform comprising:
-- Baseband Controller in RTL -- Software Protocol Stacks - HCI & Embedded -- Extensive Profile Support
BlueStream architecture accelerates Bluetooth deployment and reduces time-to-certification and time-to-revenue. BlueStream is fully Bluetooth version 1.1 compliant and implements all mandatory and optional features required of Bluetooth specification.
Bluetooth is a trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and is used by ParthusCeva under license.
Flexible Development Platform Baseband Controller IP
The BlueStream 1000 baseband controller IP solution provides the radio and lower link controller for the Bluetooth specification. The ParthusCeva Platform leads the industry in form factor, MIPS requirements and software ROM size. The ParthusCeva BB is targeted at 0.18um CMOS. The proposed ParthusCeva partitioning is a digital 1Mbps interface with low-voltage signaling.
Protocol Software Architecture & Deliverables
The ParthusCeva protocol stack software has been written in ANSI C using object oriented techniques, and has been architected to be modular and easily extended. The software can support both L2CAP variants, with L2CAP either residing on a host above the HCI or below the HCI in a deeply embedded ASIC implementation. The stack extends all the way to the RFCOMM and SDP layer and comes with a fully documented API for applications developers. Again, with a baseband protocol stack requiring less than 40kbyte, the solution is optimized for integration.
About Macronix International Co., Ltd.
Since its inception in December 1989, Macronix has been a leading provider of innovative customer/application driven non-volatile memory requiring state-of-the-art technology. In the past ten years, Macronix has established remarkable world-class customers in Japan, United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Macronix is on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (code: 2337) and was the first company based in Taiwan to be listed in NASDAQ (MXICY). Macronix is well known as one of the world's leading suppliers of non-volatile memory. Macronix delivers total solutions in Flash, EPROM, and Mask ROM. In addition, Macronix has a strong capability to provide competitive know-how in the areas of audio, video, and networking. These building blocks enable Macronix to offer System-on-a-Chip (SOC) solutions for multimedia applications in the post-PC era.
For further information visit http://www.macronix.com.
About ParthusCeva
Headquartered in San Jose, with principal offices in Dublin, Ireland and Herzelia, Israel, ParthusCeva (NASDAQ: PCVA; LSE: PCV) is a leading licensor of DSP and application-specific platform Intellectual Property (IP) to the semiconductor industry. ParthusCeva was created through the combination of Parthus Technologies plc, a leading provider of application-specific platform IP, and Ceva, formerly the licensing division of DSP Group, Inc.
For more information, visit us at www.ParthusCeva.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This document contains "forward-looking statements", which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including, without limitation, statements to the effect that the company or its management "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans" and similar expressions) should be considered forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include uncertainties relating to the ability of management to successfully integrate the operations of ParthusCeva and Ceva, uncertainties relating to the acceptance of our DSP cores and semiconductor intellectual property offerings, continuing or worsening weakness in our markets and those of our customers, quarterly variations in our results, and other uncertainties that are discussed in the registration statement on Form S-1 of ParthusCeva (formerly called Ceva, Inc.), on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.