Development Alliance Delivers Complete cdmaONE TM Chipset Solution to Handset Manufacturers; PrairieComm Offers the PCI9501 EARTH TM; Complementing Mitel's PLANETS in CDMA phones.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 1998--PrairieComm, Incorporated and Mitel Semiconductor today announced that a joint development effort has produced the most complete CDMA "antenna-to-microphone" chipset solution commercially available.

PrairieComm's PCI9501 EARTH digital baseband IC, introduced today, is the ideal companion to Mitel's currently available CDMA radio chipset; the PLANETS. In a collaborative effort, the companies leveraged PrairieComm's digital cellular systems, embedded software, and systems-on-a-chip expertise together with Mitel's proven competencies in digital, mixed-signal, and RF IC design to develop a state-of-the-art silicon platform for CDMA-compliant handsets. The resulting chipset provides handset manufacturers with an integrated and fully supported end-to-end solution that meets all of the customer demands for high performance, low power, and low cost.

"PrairieComm and Mitel developed the PCI9501 EARTH and the PLANETS to work as a complete system solution from day one. There is no way you can optimize overall handset performance by designing these components in isolation. You must think and design in terms of the whole system," said Thomas Farmer, PrairieComm Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "This is all about getting our customers to market faster and with better products than the competition."

"Our strategy is to provide customers with a proven and easy route to digital cellular products," said Andrew Burt, CDMA Marketing Manager at Mitel. "With PrairieComm, we have developed an antenna-to-microphone silicon platform that solves the most complex technology issues and allows CDMA handset manufacturers to concentrate on areas of market winning differentiation."

PrairieComm's PCI9501 EARTH digital baseband IC combines DSP and microprocessor cores, accelerator logic, and DSP firmware to perform all of the Layer I functions required by the CDMA cellular protocol. Additionally, PrairieComm provides a complete Layer II and III call processing protocol stack, dubbed the PCI9500 SEA(TM), fully integrated with the PCI9501 EARTH IC. PrairieComm also provides software call processing modules to support SMS and data services. Engineering samples of PCI9501 EARTH and pre-production versions of PCI9500 SEA are currently available.

PrairieComm acquired a CDMA ASIC license from Qualcomm, Inc. in 1997. The PCI9501 EARTH digital baseband IC is available to Qualcomm-licensed CDMA subscriber equipment manufacturers. Mitel were early licensees of the ARM micro-controller and OAK DSP cores, which are embedded in the PC19501 EARTH device. The Mitel PLANETS RF and mixed signal chipset is a complete transceiver that meets the requirements for all dual band/dual mode cdmaONE(TM) handsets. A reference style demonstrator is available that allows customers to evaluate the complete radio in a close to form factor size.

About PrairieComm:

PrairieComm, Incorporated, based in Arlington Heights, Ill., develops and markets chip sets, embedded software and licensed intellectual property to the wireless personal communication industry. The company has a strong background in the development of wireless subscriber products from a systems perspective. That strength is leveraged in the development of products hallmarked by superior performance, low power consumption, mixed-signal integration and small die size. The company develops and markets products for IS-95 CDMA, GSM and IS-136 TDMA wireless standards. For further information on PrairieComm products, please visit our Web site at http://www.prairiecomm.com or call [phone].

About Mitel

Mitel Semiconductor, a division of Mitel Corporation, is a designer, manufacturer and supplier of Standard and Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Optoelectronics and Analog Line Components. In more than 130 countries, customers benefit from Mitel Semiconductor's leadership in high performance solutions for the communications industry, and from their innovations in consumer, computer and high compliance industries such as aerospace, medical and instrumentation technologies. Mitel Semiconductor shares the knowledge it applies to its design and manufacturing activities with its customers through a special Custom Wafer Fabrication Service, a Global Design Support team and Customer Care Centre.

Mitel Corporation (NYSE:MLT)(TSE:MLT) is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of semiconductors, sub-systems and systems for the communications industries. The Company's products include integrated circuits for wired and wireless applications, applications-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), optoelectronic devices and custom silicon wafers; voice communications systems; networked voice and data systems, CTI systems and applications; telephony-enabled servers; public switching systems; and alternate network and remote access products. Mitel's leadership strategy is centered on developing strong microelectronics technology and advancing people-to-people communications in an open, distributed and standards-based environment.

cdmaONE is a trademark of the CDMA Development Group

PCI9501 EARTH and PCI9500 SEA are trademarks of PrairieComm, Inc.