Cirrus Logic's Maverick Chip Speeds Concept to Production for Industry's First `Internet-Enabled Picture Frame'.

Business/High-Tech Editors

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000

Maverick e-Appliance System-on-Chip Enables 90-day

Development Cycle, Speeding The Idea Grove's Ceiva Logic From

Zero-to-Market in Internet Time 

Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq:CRUS), today announced that The Idea Grove's Ceiva Logic, one of the newest players in the hot e-appliance arena, has selected Cirrus Logic's Maverick(TM) EP7212 system-on-chip (SOC) to power the &uot;Ceiva,&uot; the market's first Internet-enabled picture frame. The flagship product from Ceiva Logic, the Ceiva allows users and their friends to transmit digital images directly from the Web into an electronic picture frame.

The Idea Grove's first incubated company, Ceiva Logic went from concept to market in less than 90 days with Cirrus Logic's highly integrated Maverick solution at the helm, according to Dean Schiller and Paul Yanover, co-founders of The Idea Grove and Ceiva Logic. The Maverick EP7212 couples an ARM processor with Cirrus Logic's rich intellectual property in peripherals to create a powerful single-chip solution that dramatically streamlines e-appliance design and development.

&uot;We chose Cirrus Logic because their Maverick e-appliance solutions offered the right set of functions at the right price, enabling us to transform our ideas into consumer products in Internet time,&uot; Schiller said. &uot;Moreover, the Maverick team created a strong business and technical partnership with us, and embraced our goal of getting to market in time for first quarter sales. Thanks to the Maverick team, our Ceiva interactive picture frame can bring families together for the New Year.&uot;

&uot;Ceiva Logic's product embodies the promise of our Maverick system-on-chip solutions: from Zero to Market in Internet Time(TM),&uot; said Matthew Perry, vice president and general manager of Cirrus Logic's Embedded Processors Division. &uot;The Ceiva is one of the most exciting products we've seen: it enables average families -- with no technical knowledge -- to apply the power of the Internet to view snapshots of their loved ones.&uot;

About the Ceiva interactive picture frame

Because the Ceiva operates simply by plugging an electrical cord and phone wire into the wall, there is no keyboard, no mouse or PC operating system to struggle with -- all the system electronics are embedded in powerful Maverick system-on-chip from Cirrus Logic, and transparent to the user. To activate the Ceiva, an online account is set up with a user name, password and a buddy list, that tells Ceiva from whom it can receive digital images. Authorized senders can then upload their photos to Ceiva's Web site and each night the frame automatically checks for new images and downloads any that were received. Magically the pictures come to life, featuring ten images from family and loved ones near and far.

Maverick Market-Specific Processors for e-Appliances

Cirrus Logic's Market Specific Processors(TM) (MSPs) provide faster time-to-market than general-purpose processors, and lower engineering costs than application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Since Maverick chips include optimized features for specific markets, manufacturers can employ the chips to quickly respond to emerging opportunities, while still enjoying the latitude to differentiate their end system designs.

For example, Ceiva Logic harnessed the power and flexibility of the Maverick chip to run a V.34 soft modem, thus eliminating a modem chip set and reducing the overall systems cost. Ceiva Logic also employed the Maverick's glueless interface to flash memory, DRAM and a modem DAA.

Further, because Maverick MSPs incorporate an industry-standard ARM processor core, innovative companies such as Ceiva Logic can take advantage of popular development tools and off-the-shelf software in their quests to define and enable dynamic new markets. For Ceiva Logic, using a standard real-time-operating system (RTOS) and the power of the ARM-based processor allowed them to build application software that controls the JPEG picture decompression and TCP/IP stack for Internet connectivity.

About IdeaGrove

The Idea Grove, a Los Angeles-based company founded in August 1999, is devoted to incubating multiple business ideas to create products that integrate high-tech innovation and Internet utility with consumer friendly accessibility. Ceiva Logic is the first business to be incubated in The Idea Grove, with Ceiva being its first product. The Idea Grove's partner is the Yucaipa Companies, which recently expanded its Internet and technology portfolio to include the entertainment and e-commerce site, CheckOut.com (www.CheckOut.com); traditional and digital media distributor, Alliance Entertainment; Scour.net, with equity stakes in Talk City, the Web's leading chat community; and GameSpy Industries, creators of innovative entertainment sites GameSpy.com and MP3Spy.com.

Cirrus Logic Inc.

Cirrus Logic is a premier supplier of high-performance analog circuits and advanced mixed-signal chip solutions. The company's products, sold under its own name and the Crystal product brand, enable system-level applications in mass storage, audio, and precision data conversion. Additional information about Cirrus Logic is available at www.Cirrus Logic.com.

Maverick and Market Specific Processors are trademarks of Cirrus Logic Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.