Massana, XEMICS Team Up to Offer A Combined RISC and DSP Core for Ultra Low-Power, Low-Voltage Applications.

Business Editors/High-tech Writers

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2000

Massana Inc., a high-profile semiconductor IP (SIP) company, has teamed up with XEMICS of Neuchatel, Switzerland to offer an ultra low-power, low-voltage (1 volt or less), and high-performance RISC and DSP solution designed for such small footprint applications as medical devices, sensors, motor control, hand-held communications, and Internet-enabled portable appliances.

Called the FILU-50/CoolRISC, the highly cost-effective silicon solution is comprised of an integrated 8-bit RISC core from XEMICS and a 16-bit fixed-point DSP coprocessor core from Massana. The first product to be released as a part of a joint development and marketing agreement between the two companies, the FILU50/CoolRISC device is available for licensing worldwide.

"The whole idea of doing this joint design," explained Remy Pache, XEMICS' vice president of business strategy development, "was to allow both ourselves and Massana to access broad new markets that would not have been as feasible if each company had addressed them unilaterally. But the real big winners are the users who now have a very cost effective, minimum power, low area (die size), low voltage MCU and DSP solution."

According to Irving Gold, Massana's Vice President of Marketing and Sales, "This new alliance gives us the opportunity to spread our wings in the low-power, low-voltage world where XEMICS has proven expertise. What's more, we can now serve customers' IP cores needs across a wide spectrum of OEM designs - from high-end wired broadband communications and high-speed networking to low-end wireless devices as well as a lot in the middle, such as automotive and industrial control systems."

Massana's DSP coprocessor core portion of the FILU-50/CoolRISC has a set of pre-programmed DSP functions that are accessed through a "C" language function call from the CoolRISC. This core provides 4 MIPS for the MCU and 2 MIPS for the DSP, giving a combined total of 6 MIPS with a 1-volt supply.

It is anticipated that users of FILU-50/CoolRISC will develop their applications entirely in "C" using an API to invoke DSP functions. To aid the development process, "C" and Verilog models are provided to allow system simulation, and an evaluation board is available to enable users to develop their own systems applications.

XEMICS is a fabless semiconductor company that delivers true System-on-a-Chip (SOC) products as either ASSP or custom-specific ICs. The company focuses on ultra low-power solutions for most hand-held battery applications, portable audio devices, industrial and consumer sensing applications, short-distance wireless RF communications, and embedded controllers and DSPs. In its 1999 fiscal year, XEMICS posted revenues of 20.5 million Swiss francs. This year the Swiss firm opened a new Silicon Valley office in Mountain View, CA at 625 Ellis Street; Phone: [phone], Toll-Free: 888-3XEMICS. For more information, email the company at [e-mail]. Or visit its Website at www.xemics.com.

Massana is a provider of technology for broadband communications and high-speed networking. Massana's mission is to provide lightning-fast bandwidth via its proprietary silicon solutions for standards-based communications and networking systems; these solutions are delivered through patented DSP module compiler technology coupled with proprietary DSP algorithms. Among Massana's clients/partners are Alcatel, Analog Devices, Motorola, Nortel, and Toshiba.

For more information about Massana, contact Irving Gold at Massana Inc., 51 E. Campbell Avenue, Campbell, CA 95008. Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Email: [e-mail]. Or visit the company on the Internet at www.massana.com.