ISD Makes Strides in Point-of-Sales Automotive Market With Chipcorder IC Advanced Voice Technology.

Business/High-Tech Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2000

ISD4004 Chip Offers Industry-Leading Record and Playback Functionality

for Innovative New Information Delivery Products

ISD (Information Storage Devices, Inc.), a Winbond company and leading supplier of semiconductor voice solutions, today announced that its popular ISD4004 ChipCorder(R) product has been chosen by Advanced Information Systems (AIS), LLC for inclusion in their newly launched direct advertising tool, the CT 2000 CarTalker(R).

CONCEPTURE(TM), a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company that specializes in new product development and manufacturing of plastics-enhanced products and subassemblies, provided design, engineering and manufacturing support to AIS. Using ISD's high quality, single-chip record/playback solution, the CT 2000 CarTalker enables automotive dealerships to provide on-site, customized messaging and record functions for potential vehicle buyers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The ISD4004 has provided the leading-edge voice IC technology necessary for the CT 2000 CarTalker to offer potential automobile customers interactive communications including messages in the language of their choice and audio recording capability for leaving messages for a dealer or a sales rep. The product attaches to the outside of a vehicle window and can be used for immediate access to a wide variety of information. This is a particularly convenient feature for consumers seeking information when the dealership is closed or sales personnel are busy. The CT 2000 CarTalker is expected to debut at selected dealerships in Michigan and Florida within the next several weeks.

"Point-of-sale information delivery devices are becoming increasingly popular as discerning and busy consumers demand access to information instantly," said Geoff Harbell, senior product manager for ISD's award-winning ChipCorder line. "The ISD4004 ChipCorder solution allows OEMs to quickly create flexible and innovative solutions that feature the highest quality voice record/play back, low power consumption (3 Volt) and up to 16 minutes of messaging capability."

From recordable greeting cards and the latest cellular and portable digital recording products, to innovative new point-of-sale information delivery systems, ISD's ChipCorder IC products provide customers with a broad range of advanced voice chip solutions that all feature a simple, single-chip, drop-in design that enables seamless integration into new products. This allows customers to rapidly bring products to market and differentiate their marketing efforts.

"ISD has provided us with a chip solution that enabled us to quickly and efficiently design in all the advanced voice features automotive customers require for this innovative new product," said Mark McKinley, CEO, AIS. "This is our most recent venture with ISD and Winbond and we are pleased at the quality, functionality and flexibility that ISD's products feature."

The ISD4004 utilizes ISD's proprietary ChipCorder multi-level, non-volatile message storage capability. ISD's ChipCorder ICs provide voice record/playback capabilities in a single chip configuration, offer simple system integration and provide system designers with industry-leading sound quality and low power operation -- all in a cost-effective voice record/playback solution.

About ISD

As a leading supplier of Voice Solutions in Silicon(TM), ISD provides leadership semiconductor products to the communications, consumer, automotive, medical and industrial marketplaces that advance the way people communicate. ISD's ChipCorder(R) product family, featuring exceptional sound quality, low-power consumption, and non volatility in a single chip, utilizes ISD's proprietary 8-bit per cell equivalent multi-level storage technology.

Leveraging the company's proprietary advanced, proven digital speech processing technology and high-quality speech compression algorithms, ISD's VoiceDSP(TM) products enable an array of digital features and functionality for products such as digital telephone answering devices. ISD's new Simon(TM) series of speech recognition products enable consumers to leverage the power of PC- and server-oriented voice command and control capabilities in a simple, chip-level solution, making it ideal for small, low-power, low-cost products. For more information, please visit our World Wide Web home page at www.isd.com.

About Winbond

Winbond Electronics Corporation is the largest branded IC company in Taiwan. Winbond's product portfolio covers PC and peripheral-related ICs, consumer electronics ICs, multimedia ICs, SRAMs, non-volatile memory and DRAMs. Winbond has a leading position in Taiwan and East Asia in telephone dialers, PC I/O controllers, speech synthesizers and MPEG decoders. Winbond has four wafer fabs in operation, with current technologies ranging from 3 to 0.13um. Winbond also provides certain wafer capacity to serve foundry customers. Winbond is based in Hsinchu Science-Based Park, Taiwan, and has sales offices in Taipei, Hong Kong and San Jose, California. World Wide Web home page: www.winbond.com.

Note: Winbond is a registered trademark of Winbond Electronics Corporation. ChipCorder and ISD are registered are trademarks of Information Storage Devices, Inc. All other trademarks listed herein are the property of their respective owners.