Conexant And CopperCom to Develop Semiconductor System Solutions for Voice-Over-DSL -VoDSL- Equipment.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 13, 1999--

--   New processors will cut costs and complexity of developing
     VoDSL-capable customer premises equipment while ensuring
     interoperability with CopperCom(TM) Voice Gateway equipment
--   Conexant will use voice compression and fax demodulation
     technology to increase Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) data rates
     without sacrificing voice lines

Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT) Tuesday announced that the company is collaborating with CopperCom, headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., on a family of VoDSL semiconductor system solutions for customer premises equipment (CPE) manufacturers.

Conexant's VoDSL processors will make it easier for manufacturers to develop equipment that transports several lines of voice telephony over DSL links, while also ensuring interoperability with the CopperCom Gateway.

"Conexant brings to this partnership world-class expertise in voice compression and processing, ATM technology and industry-leading DSL solutions," said Martin Levetin, chief operating officer at CopperCom. "These critical technologies are seamlessly integrated in this new family of highly sophisticated VoDSL processors that will yield an even broader range of CPE to the market."

"We are pleased to have CopperCom, a demonstrated leader in VoDSL, as a partner in defining this VoDSL processor and working with us to create a complete semiconductor systems solution," said Ron Cates, division director for Broadband Access at Conexant. "CopperCom is an existing customer for our ZipWire(TM) Symmetric DSL (SDSL) transceivers.

"Now, CopperCom and other CPE manufacturers will be able to develop significantly less costly and complex CPE solutions that are also interoperable with the CopperCom Gateway."

These solutions will provide CopperCom and other third-party CPE manufacturers with a plug-and-play hardware solution that reduces the cost and complexity of building Integrated Access Devices (IADs) used at the customer premises.

The VoDSL processors will include a multi-channel telephony interface, a multiplicity of voice codecs, plus voice processing support circuits and ATM Adaption Layer Type 2 (AAL2) Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) technology for a complete solution.

Conexant's devices will also incorporate interfaces that are proprietary to CopperCom. This will ensure that IADs developed by CopperCom and other third-party CPE manufacturers will be interoperable with an industry-leading CopperCom Gateway. In addition, the devices will seamlessly connect to Conexant's ZipWire family of SDSL and AccessRunner(TM) Asymmetric DSL (ADSL) transceivers.

Conexant's new family of VoDSL processors will provide voice compression, silence suppression, echo cancellation, Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) and call progress tone detection, and fax and modem demodulation. Conexant is including these features to minimize the DSL link bandwidth that must be devoted to an analog voice channel.

In this way, the IAD will be able to increase the number of voice channels it provides, or maximize the bandwidth dedicated to data connectivity.

Conexant offers a broad portfolio of central-office DSL solutions. The company's AccessRunner multi-port ADSL chipset offers an ideal solution for multi-port digital loop carriers, and for DSL Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs) used to deploy ADSL services in central office applications.

Conexant also is the world leader in SDSL solutions, offering its up-to-4.64 Mbps ZipWire family for such business connectivity applications as high-speed Internet access, telecommuting and branch office support.

CopperCom is a privately held Silicon Valley company that is Giving Voice to DSL. The company was founded to address a worldwide market that is at the crossroads of voice and data convergence, and is paving the way for the next generation of high-bandwidth applications.

CopperCom is leading the market in delivering carrier-class Voice over DSL equipment, both voice gateways and integrated access devices, to incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers. To accelerate marketing development, the company has taken a leadership role in both market education and standards efforts for Voice over DSL.

CopperCom has built a strong management team with expertise across both the data and voice networking industries, international depth in European, Asian and North American markets, and management experience in start-ups as well as large multinationals. The company has attracted engineering talent from AT&T, Ericsson, Nortel, Fujitsu, Ipsilon, Fore, Advanced Micro Devices, AFCI, DSC, Network Equipment Technologies, Juniper and Madge Networks.

CopperCom can be contacted via telephone at 408/567-9277, fax at 408/567-9558, and the Internet at www.coppercom.com.

With revenues of more than $1.2 billion, Conexant is the world's largest independent company focused exclusively on providing semiconductor products for communications electronics.

With more than 30 years of experience in developing communications technology, the company draws upon its expertise in mixed-signal processing to deliver integrated systems and semiconductor products for a broad range of communications applications.

These products facilitate communications worldwide through wireline voice and data communications networks, cordless and cellular wireless telephony systems, personal imaging devices and equipment, and emerging cable and wireless broadband communications networks.

The company aligns its business into five product platforms: Network Access, Wireless Communications, Digital Infotainment, Personal Imaging, and Personal Computing. Conexant is a member of the Nasdaq-100 Index, which represents the largest and most active stocks listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market across major industry groups. For more information, visit Conexant's Web site at www.conexant.com.

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