ANT Fresco Browser Selected by Philips Semiconductors for its Nexperia Silicon System Platforms.

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2001

ANT Limited, a leading provider of embedded communication software for consumer electronics, Internet appliances and eCommerce products, announced today that Philips Semiconductors (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) has chosen the ANT Fresco(TM) browser as part of its innovative Nexperia(TM) system silicon platforms.

The Nexperia architecture is set to drive the definition and production of next-generation home entertainment and consumer products by allowing OEMs to integrate digital audio and video, Web access and data communications using a proven, reusable set of interoperable hardware and software modules. Philips Semiconductors will include ANT Fresco as part of the Nexperia software solution for set-top boxes (STBs) and integrated digital TVs, enabling Philips to offer an advanced solution for broadcasters and manufacturers of digital TV devices.

"ANT Fresco was chosen following extensive research and evaluation of numerous browsers by the Philips Research Group," said Enrico De Salve, software and sales marketing manager at Philips Semiconductors. "Software plays a key role in our Nexperia platform design, and the Fresco browser provides our broadcast and OEM customers with configurable functionality and facilities to produce a customized and highly focused user interface for product branding and differentiation. The ANT browser was ported to our silicon in a very short time and will help to establish the Nexperia platform as the platform of choice for digital consumer electronic products."

"By choosing our browser to be part of its solution for high performance digital TV devices, Philips Semiconductors becomes another prestigious partner added to the list of technology companies who recognize the many benefits of our product," said John Cherry, senior VP of Sales and Marketing at ANT. "The flexibility and ease of customization means that Fresco is rapidly becoming the browser of choice for such applications. Now Philips Semiconductors' customers have access to an interoperable, reusable browser module that they can be confident carries the quality they would expect of a high reliability embedded product."

Philips' Nexperia solutions allow OEMs to bring advanced consumer products to market rapidly, and with a high degree of flexibility. Each Nexperia platform is tailored to its own specific application domain, building on Philips' range of experience in multiple technologies. OEMs using Nexperia gain access to a set of hardware and software modules guaranteed to interoperate seamlessly, and designed for reuse. ANT Fresco will provide the core browser technology with a customizable user interface for Philips' customers working on next generation appliances requiring Web access.

ANT Fresco is a platform-independent browser that enables OEMs to quickly and easily customize a branded interface for their Internet appliances. As the industry's first content-driven browser, it is designed to support real-world Web content. ANT's extensive and ongoing research into the features and functions used by today's Web sites allows consumer product OEMs to offer users greatly increased access to Web-based content. It has a small memory footprint and is based on a patent pending three-layer architecture.

About Philips Semiconductors

Philips Semiconductors, which had annual revenues of approximately US$6.3 billion in 2000, designs and manufactures semiconductors and silicon systems platforms. Philips Semiconductors is spearheading the emerging field of systems on silicon solutions with the innovative Nexperia(TM) platform and VLSI Velocity(TM) tool set. The company's Sea-of-IP(TM) design methodology allows plug and play intellectual property blocks for easily customizable products. The company is a leader in communications, consumer, PC peripherals and automotive semiconductors, which are key applications for convergence in end-user products. Philips Semiconductors is headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and has operations throughout the world. For more information: www.semiconductors.philips.com.

About ANT Limited

ANT Limited (www.antlimited.com) develops and markets embedded communication appliance software for use in consumer electronics, Internet appliances and eCommerce products. Core technology includes the ANT Fresco(TM) browser and the ANT SimplEmail(TM) email client, which employ high performance, highly portable and customizable architectures designed to meet the needs of Internet appliances and other networked products. ANT's technology gives original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of Internet devices, and the technology partners that supply them, three significant advantages: far greater speed to market, reduced engineering costs, and freedom to leverage corporate identity. The company's current customers include: Analog Devices, Amino Communications, OpenGlobe, Pace Micro Technology, Quiero, Sagem, Symbian and ZapMedia. Partners include: Bitstream, Enea, IBM Microelectronics, RSA Security, STMicroelectronics, Tality and Wind River Systems.

ANT Limited, PO Box 300, Cambridge, UK, CB2 1NS. Tel [phone]. Fax [phone]. email: [e-mail]. U.S. headquarters: North Suburban Business Center, 23 Walkers Brook Drive, Reading, MA 01867; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail]

Note to Editors: Nexperia is a trademark of Philips.

Fresco and SimplEmail are trademarks of ANT Limited. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.