Global Communication Devices Receives $15.6 Million Series B Funding to Supply Integrated Semiconductor Solutions to Wireless Market.

Business/Technology Editors

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 2001

...Company Moves Headquarters to North Andover, Massachusetts...

Global Communication Devices (GCD), a fabless supplier of highly integrated semiconductor devices for wireless networking applications, today announced the close of $15.6 million in Series B funding to finance significant expansion, including a move to new headquarters in North Andover, Massachusetts. The funds will also be used to conclude development and initiate production of the company's general-purpose highly integrated transceiver chips for local area, wide area, and personal area networks. GCD is positioned to be a leader in RF designs with state of the art delta-sigma data conversion technology. Initial products support IEEE 802.11a, b, and g standards as well as Bluetooth and HomeRF.

The funding was led by Walden International Investment Group (www.waldenintl.com) with Lucent Venture Partners (www.luvp.com), Goldman Sachs (www.gs.com), The Still River Fund (www. stillriverfund.com), and The Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (www.mtdc.com also participating. GCD's Series A funding was led by The Still River Fund with The Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation also participating.

"As the world moves toward location independence, and people communicate with one another from locations outside their offices, they rely on wireless transport for their reach," said Geoffrey C. Dawe, president and chief executive officer of Global Communication Devices. "Small offices and home offices are becoming increasingly dependent on the ability to conduct business outside of the traditional office setting, yet the costs of equipment can be prohibitive. We are focused on lowering these costs through innovative chip design.

"This financing will allow the company to make a smooth transition from development to volume production of the most highly-integrated single-chip transceiver available, a chip which will have applications in wireless data network equipment, cordless telephones, enterprise networks, Bluetooth appliances, and point-to-point radio systems."

GCD is in development of advanced wireless CMOS semiconductor technologies based on IEEE 802.11 standards including a general-purpose 2.4 GHz ISM band single-chip radio transceiver, a 5.2 GHz UNII band transceiver, sigma-delta data conversion technology, and future highly integrated transceiver chips for local area, wide area, and personal area networks.

"The company has made great strides toward becoming a leader in the wireless market with its low cost, but highly reliable, integrated transceiver chip set," said Danial Faizullabhoy of Walden International Investment Group. "We are excited about the progress GCD has made in product development and we see great potential for the company and its technology to maximize its opportunity by reducing a number of the costs currently associated with the this market.

"It has become clear that network access is key to communications in this age of information," said Neil Vasant of Lucent Venture Partners. "GCD is positioned with the skills and resources to enable widespread adoption of wireless networking in world markets."

GCD also recently completed the relocation of its offices to North Andover, Mass. The new facilities, which feature over 17,000 square feet of office and lab space, are located at One High Street and will accommodate a staff that is rapidly expanding and has grown 100 percent in the last six months.

About Walden International Investment Group

Walden International is a leading Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, providing early stage technology companies with the advantage of an unrivaled global network since 1987. The firm's international venture capital funds comprise more than US$1 billion in committed capital. Walden International's globally organized network of multi-cultural investment professionals spans the United States, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, India, Japan and Australia. For more information please visit www.waldenintl.com.

About Lucent Venture Partners

Lucent Venture Partners is the wholly owned venture capital subsidiary of Lucent Technologies, with offices in Palo Alto, Calif.; Waltham, Mass.; and Murray Hill, N.J. Formed in 1998, the group invests in early-stage technology companies in high-growth communications areas such as optical, data, and wireless networking, semiconductors, communications software, professional services and e-commerce. More information about Lucent Venture Partners is available at www.luvp.com.

About Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is a leader in working with technology companies to access the capital markets and to provide financial services at every stage of the corporate lifecycle. Our clients look to us for strategic positioning and seamless execution.

About Still River Fund

The Still River Fund is a seed and early stage private equity fund seeking to work with outstanding management teams to build high growth companies. The Fund maintains a primary focus on information and software companies, specifically as they relate to Information Technologies, Life Sciences, and Consumer Services. For additional information, please call the company at 617.348.2327.

About Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation

MTDC provides venture capital funding for start-up and early-stage technology companies. Since 1979, MTDC has invested more than $46 million in 105 Massachusetts firms.

About Global Communications Devices

Global Communications Design (GCD), headquartered in North Andover, Massachusetts develops and supplies integrated semiconductor devices for wireless networking applications including Wireless Local Area Networks, and wireless broadband access for both fixed and portable users. GCD specializes in radio frequency, mixed signal and data conversion technologies and enables the affordable, versatile network access demanded by a multi-media, multi-protocol, multi-spectral world networking environment. The company was founded in 1996 to provide integrated semiconductor design services and in 1999 began the transition to "fabless" semiconductor manufacturing. GCD has successfully developed over forty-three products to date. For more information, please visit www.gcdchips.com or call 978-685-6100.