Conexant and Connect One Deliver Industry's First Internet-Enabled Appliance Reference Design; Joint Solution Speeds Time-to-Market for Cost-Effective Internet Appliance Designs.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 5, 2000

Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT), the world's largest independent company focused exclusively on communications semiconductors, and Connect One, a leading developer and manufacturer of Internet-enabling technologies, Tuesday announced a jointly developed reference design that will enable appliance designers to quickly and cost-effectively add Internet functionality to new devices.

The reference design features Conexant's SmartSCM(TM) single-chip modem and Connect One's iChip(TM) Internet Controller(TM).

Internet appliances, which are designed to deliver Internet-based services in a "turnkey" package, typically include such devices as set-top boxes, net-connected televisions and game consoles, Web phones, personal Internet assistants (PIAs) and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

"As the industry's first Internet-enabled modem reference design, this solution reduces the time and complexity of creating the next generation of Internet devices," said Germaine Ewing, senior product manager for Conexant's personal computing division.

"Bringing new devices to market in `Internet time' is the top priority for appliance manufacturers. With its reference platform, OEMs can quickly enable new Internet appliance designs with minimal engineering resources or modem expertise. Conexant selected Connect One as its development partner because of its easy-to-use, `drop-in' solution, which greatly complements our SmartSCM dial-up modem."

"Connect One's off-the-shelf iChip Internet controller eliminates the time, cost and complexity of connecting devices to the Internet," said Alan Singer, vice president of sales and marketing at Connect One. "Because iChip is based on Internet-updatable firmware, manufacturers can maintain products remotely, and are ensured they will work with any Internet service provider and any phone system in the world for years to come."

Technical Details

Announced earlier this year, Conexant's SmartSCM is the industry's first single-chip modem to include all of the functions necessary for quickly and inexpensively incorporating global Internet connectivity into a broad range of Internet appliances.

The SmartSCM solution combines a modem controller, data pump, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM) and Conexant's patented SmartDAA(TM) silicon data access arrangement (DAA) telephone-network interface.

SmartSCM reduces design time and board space, as well as engineering and system costs required to incorporate modem connectivity into a wide variety of e-appliances, and is the only solution that can be used to build a single modem design that will interface with any major telephone network in the world. Conexant offers its SmartSCM solution in versions that support the industry-standard V.32 bis, V.34 or V.90 modem modulations.

Connect One's iChip is an Internet controller that mediates the connection between the host-device processor and the Internet. iChip works in tandem with the modem controller and runs the Internet protocols for sending and receiving e-mail messages and Web pages, and for opening and closing transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) sockets.

iChip includes 256K or 512K of on-board flash memory for storing and updating the Internet protocols. Connect One's high-level AT+i command set enables manufacturers without Internet programming capability to Internet-enable their devices by writing just a few lines of code that instruct their host processor to invoke Internet Protocol commands on iChip.

The joint reference design is available now from Connect One and Conexant sales offices and distributors worldwide.

About Connect One

Connect One develops and manufactures chips, software, and hardware that enable industrial, commercial and consumer devices to connect to the Internet. iChip is an embedded TCP/IP peripheral chip that Internet-enables next-generation devices. iWare(TM) is an embedded software solution for host processors.

iModem(TM) is a stand-alone or embedded Internet modem replacement for a standard dial-up modem. Fax Messenger(TM) is an e-mail/Internet fax appliance that enables any G3 fax machine to send and receive e-mail and Internet faxes. iChip, Internet Controller, iModem, iWare, Fax Messenger, AT+i and Connect One are trademarks of Connect One Ltd.

With headquarters in Kfar Saba, Israel and a sales/support office in Santa Clara, Calif., Connect One is privately owned. For further information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.connectone.com or send an e-mail to [e-mail].

About Conexant Systems Inc.

With a revenue run-rate of approximately $2 billion per year, Conexant is the world's largest independent company focused exclusively on providing semiconductor solutions 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 S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 Indices. For more information, visit Conexant at www.conexant.com.

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