Atmel and Wave Systems Corp. Partner to Provide Advanced ``E-commerce on a Chip'' Solution; Expanded Options for Trusted-Client Technology.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 1999--

Wave Systems Corp., (OTC BB: WAVX)(http://www.wave.com), and Atmel Corporation, (Nasdaq:ATML) (http://www.atmel.com) today announced a partnership established to create a high performance, independent chip solution which will integrate Wave's EMBASSY E-commerce System with Atmel's advanced secure transaction chip technology. Atmel, a leading supplier of system level integration including nonvolatile memory, logic and microcontroller solutions, and Wave, a provider of electronic commerce, content distribution and security services are forming an alliance intended to provide an expanded range of platforms and configurations in which Wave's EMBASSY technology can be deployed.

This new version of the EMBASSY platform, to be available Q1, 2000, will be designed to provide a high performance, Trusted-client platform, with advanced hardware security features. This agreement coupled with Wave's previous announcements continues Wave's strategy to include the EMBASSY System in a number of different form factors and devices. The EMBASSY (EMBedded Application Security SYstem) is an open platform intended to support multiple secure applications and to protect important data such as account balances and digital identities. The EMBASSY is programmable and will be designed to allow third-party software vendors to develop secure e-commerce applications that require a distributed trusted environment.

This flexible implementation will support e-commerce value-exchange services and security applications including the following:

o Secure digital content distribution: Music, videos, electronic

books, software, games and other forms of digital goods can be

secured and then distributed directly to users. Consumers will be

able to receive the content via broadcast by terrestrial digital

TV, internet, cable, or satellite as well as physical

distribution such as CDs and DVDs. Wave's EMBASSY system, using

money stored in the chip, will allow the consumer to rent to own,

pay per use, or an outright purchase of the digital content.

o Virtual private networks for service delivery: Strong security

provided by this solution in end-point devices will accelerate

the creation of new business-to-business and business-to-consumer

relationships and allow services to be delivered across open,

unsecured networks.

o Enhanced personal privacy: The trusted environment will provide

the user with new options for controlling who has access to their

personal information and how the information can be used.

Atmel is partnering with Wave and other customers to enable security solutions running on Atmel's secure transaction chip. Atmel's chip under development will provide 3 high-speed serial interfaces including USB, ISO7816, and SPI, from which software partners will be able to exploit several form factors such as solderable package, dongle, or smartcard. Public and private key encryption algorithms will be speed enhanced by hardware encryption engines. Atmel believes these features coupled with an ARM 32-bit RISC processor core, a secure real time clock, and Atmel's high density non-volatile memory provide a very powerful and fast 1-chip integrated solution for system integrators to take advantage of.

"Atmel's secure non-volatile memory, micro-controller based, and contactless products have been in the market since 1992. This partnership between Atmel and Wave is intended to create a new market opportunity for our secure silicon technology. The combination of Atmel's hardware and Wave's software will give consumers unparalleled control and protection with regard to their personal information and the ability to purchase digital commodities," says Tony Giraudo, Atmel's V.P. of Secure Products.

"Thanks to the efforts of industry innovators such as Wave Systems and Atmel, we are getting closer every day to the possible large scale adoption of a shared multi-application smart card solution," said Donna Farmer, president and CEO of The Smart Card Forum, a multi-industry organization working to accelerate the widespread acceptance and application of smart card technology. "Atmel's chip and Wave Systems' unique EMBASSY solution will be designed to embed secure transaction technology in a wide range of consumer devices. This joint technology offering will help to accelerate the creation of new smart card applications based on distributed trust, using both portable chip cards and embedded security technology."

"It is essential for the PC and consumer electronics industries to have flexible solutions for security and services in their platforms which are programmable, open, and standards based," states Steven Sprague, Wave Systems President. "Our alliance with Atmel is intended to provide a strategic co-processor security platform which can support multiple industry requirements including emerging intellectual property protection standards, and will be available for wide a range of devices."

NOTE TO EDITORS:

In a separate release made today, Wave Systems and Sun Microsystems announced the integration of Sun's Java Card(tm) technology. This further extends Wave's EMBASSY E-Commerce on a Chip(tm) solution and enables application developers to create secure consumer applications for a wide range of consumer devices utilizing the industry leading, JavaCard applications framework.

About Atmel Corp:

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with principal manufacturing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Nantes and Rousset, France and Heilbronn, Germany. Atmel designs, develops, manufactures and markets on a worldwide basis semiconductors, including nonvolatile and embedded memory, logic, analog, microcontroller products and system-level integration (SLI) solutions using advanced CMOS, BiCMOS, BiPolar and SiGe process technologies. Atmel product and financial information can be retrieved from its Fax-on-Demand service. In North America call 1-[phone]. Internationally from a fax phone, dial 1-[phone]. Requests may be sent via e-mail to [e-mail] or by visiting Atmel's web site at www.atmel.com.

About Wave Systems Corp:

Founded in 1988, the mission of Wave Systems Corporation is to create content distribution and secure services based on a new distributed trust model for e-commerce. Wave's core EMBASSY technology is an inexpensive, open hardware and software-based device that enables secure transaction processing and distributed information metering in users' devices. Embedded in PC hardware and peripherals, set-top boxes and other devices, EMBASSY is the foundation for client-based security applications and a new distribution and purchasing model for content and services. This low-cost, secure "system within a system" will enable the personal computer and consumer appliances to assume an important new role in the evolving digital economy. By moving secure transactions to the user, Wave provides intrinsic value to the electronic commerce process, benefiting PC users, application developers, and hardware manufacturers. For more information, please visit Wave's corporate web site at www.wave.com.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements:

Except for the statements of historical fact, the information presented herein constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include general economic and business conditions, the ability to fund operations, the loss of market share, changes in consumer buying habits and other factors over which Wave Systems Corp and/or Atmel has little or no control.