Atmel Announces Industry's First CryptoMemory Family of Products; The Only Secure Memory Family of Devices With Data Encryption and Both Synchronous and Asynchronous Protocols.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 18, 2001

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:ATML) announced today the availability of the industry's first low cost, high security memory devices with data encryption including both synchronous and asynchronous protocols. The AT88SCxxxC CryptoMemory family expands Atmel's range of secure products, filling the industry need for affordable secure devices for smart card and embedded applications.

This family of products, with memory densities available today from 1Kb to16Kb, allows a system integrator to switch memory density without changing application software. CryptoMemory uses T=0 protocol the same protocol used in secure microprocessors as well as 2-wire protocol for fast data rate exchanges. CryptoMemory does not require an operating system like a microprocessor, therefore it is faster to market, easier to program and allows file management within its zones. Encryption ensures high security within a chip solution at a much lower system cost than microprocessor implementation, and is compliant to the ISO7816-3 standard.

This level of security, previously available only in microcontrollers, opens up new opportunities for affordable smart cards to be used in daily consumer applications. Its features are optimal in applications like driver's licenses, ID cards, loyalty and e-purse cards such as those used for laundromats, energy meters and voting machines. CryptoMemory's high security features and low cost make it ideal for building or room access control used in campus cards or hotel entry. It is also being designed into embedded applications, enabling authentication of OEM subassemblies within a system, such as removable storage devices and automotive piece parts. Applications that require the authentication of an individual user to provide access to sensitive information, such as personal computers or storage of secure information in health care cards, will benefit from this new family of CryptoMemory products. These services can now be offered at an affordable price with a chip solution, eliminating the need to wait months for an operating system to be developed.

"We are very excited about the technology advancements we have made in our portfolio over the last few months. We are extremely well positioned to provide leading edge solutions to the security and smart card markets and are actively partnering with world-class solution providers," said Chris Baumann, director of BiCMOS and secure products at Atmel Corporation. "This new technology secures Atmel's position as the only semiconductor manufacturer to provide a full range of products that include everything from non-secure serial EEPROMs to cryptoprocessors. The CryptoMemory family, with its low cost, encryption-based, high security circuits allows the entrance of smart cards into the hands of the general public in everyday applications."

This family of products will be expanded to include 64Kb to 256Kb later this year. Larger densities are planned in 2002. The cost of the CryptoMemory chip solution is so much lower than implementing a secure microprocessor, that Atmel is teaming with major card manufacturers to use CryptoMemory in many of their current microprocessor applications. These are applications where the microprocessor has been used mainly to provide the encryption/decryption functions. The high volume price of these new products, in module/package form, will range from $.30 to $.45 depending on memory density.

About Atmel

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, bipolar SiGe, and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.

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