INTERSIL PORTABLE POWER DEVICES ENABLE ADVANCED NOTEBOOK COMPUTER DESIGNS.

Intersil (Nasdaq: ISIL), a leading systems-oriented provider of ICs and semiconductors for the integrated communications market, announced the inaugural device in a family of power management integrated circuits (ICs) specifically developed to power next generation, high performance mobile products. Intersil's new portable power management devices are designed to increase battery life in the newest, most compact wireless and mobile devices.

Information retrieval and manipulation in mobile computing environments has created a demand for next-generation products that allow users to access Intranets, networks and the Internet at speeds rivaling desktop PCs. In this environment, power management becomes a critical element in successful system design. Advanced microprocessors demand more energy on a dynamic basis while the physical size of the portable information appliances continues to shrink, allowing less room for power management and thermal management devices.

Intersil's first portable computer power management device efficiently regulates system energy usage and directly contributes to extended battery life. Specifically, Intersil's architecture allows the central processing unit (CPU) voltage regulator to be completely turned off when the microprocessor is not in use, eliminating voltage generation for the CPU and reducing total system power consumption in aggressive mobile power management environments. This device automatically adjusts pulse width modulation (PWM) outputs to meet reduced current requirements in lower power sleep states, and these outputs can be individually turned off to further reduce power consumption. PWM is a high-frequency energy processing operation that is performed on the interverter-switched output voltage or current waveform to optimize performance.