SiRF Delivers Instant Location Information Technology for Consumer Products; Start-up to commercialize GPS technology for a wide range of consumer applications.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 1996--SiRF Technology, Inc. today unveiled its SiRFstar Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that will drive widespread adoption of products and applications that provide instant location information, enabling users to ascertain where they are anywhere in the world using portable PCs, cellular phones, entertainment systems, hand-held devices and a limitless range of new and existing consumer products.

GPS provides positioning information through satellites. The technology has the potential to answer such questions as, "where am I, where is my daughter, how do I get to where I'm going, and where shall I eat once I get there?" -- whether the user is driving an automobile, hiking in a forest, or trekking through a theme park.

"Commercializing GPS technology will uncover its untapped potential. With a press of a button, you will be able to instantly locate your lost child, find your car in a crowded parking lot, ascertain where you are in Yosemite Park or dial 911 from your cell phone knowing that an operator can immediately find you," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies.

"Our affordable, high-performance GPS technology solution is guaranteed to change the way we live," said to Dado Banatao, chairman of SiRF. "In fact, by as soon as December, you'll be able to use SiRF's GPS technology in your portable computer to locate your next sales appointment, find the fastest route to take, and discover the best burrito place once you get there."

SiRF offers a chip set and modular software that will make GPS affordable, usable and ubiquitous for the first time. The company's patent-pending SiRFstar architecture will help to overcome the obstacles currently hampering widespread adoption of GPS by enabling far lower-cost deployment of GPS technology, superior availability of GPS signals, and greater accuracy of position information.

"SiRF is doing exactly what's needed to propel GPS technology into the mainstream," according to Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a Tempe, Arizona-based market research firm that predicts a $10 billion market for GPS receiver systems by the year 2000. "Most people have never understood the potential for GPS because, until now, it has been too expensive and has lacked adequate performance for consumer applications. SiRF appears to have the right silicon and software -- and the right business model -- for driving GPS to the consumer."

SiRF is already working with several OEMs on product concepts; a number of products based on SiRFstar architecture will enter the market by year's end. MiTAC, Inc., for example, has formed a new division to develop GPS-enabled navigation products based on SiRFstar architecture. "After carefully studying the navigation market opportunity, MiTAC has concluded that navigation-related applications will grow dramatically in the coming years. For instance, I expect that GPS-enabled, low-cost PCMCIA solutions will experience rapid growth in the notebook market in the next year," said C.S. Ho, Chairman of MiTAC. "By combining cost-effective, reliable GPS technology from SiRF Technology with our own flexible and highly efficient manufacturing resources, MiTAC can break the price barrier for navigation devices to make them far more appealing to the consumer."

About GPS

Developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, GPS technology was initially used for military applications, and in recent years, for car navigation systems. GPS satellites transmit their signals using spread-spectrum technology at 1.6 GHz, enabling low-power receivers that are small in size.

However, several factors have prevented the emergence of a strong, consumer-oriented market for GPS products and applications. One is interference in terrestrial environments, where trees, buildings and tunnels can obstruct GPS signals. Another is inaccuracies caused by signal deflection off of buildings or other structures -- called multipath signals -- resulting in often unacceptable precision degradation. Third, reacquisition of the satellite signal has been slow, particularly in urban environments, often taking several seconds -- unacceptable for car navigation.

Finally, the cost of deploying GPS technology has been prohibitive due to the current GPS supplier business model based on vertical integration -- each vendor developing chips, boards, systems and software -- that supports only low-volume, high-priced systems markets.

SiRF's Solution

SiRF has developed a patented architecture, called the SiRFstar(TM) architecture, that helps to overcome these obstacles, and enables designers to deploy low-cost GPS capabilities into a wide variety of consumer-oriented products, from car navigation systems to hand-held pocket devices (see Idea Book).

The SiRFstar architecture provides a number of unique capabilities for consumer applications. With the SnapLock(TM) feature, satellite reacquisition time is about one-tenth of a second -- as much as 30 times faster than other solutions on the market, significantly increasing the GPS location information available. With SingleSat(TM) navigation, a SiRF-enabled GPS receiver can continue to obtain positioning information from a single satellite, while other GPS solutions require at least two or more satellite signals in order to calculate a position.

SiRF's dual multipath signal rejection scheme improves the accuracy/quality of GPS by reducing multipath errors, which result from GPS signals reflecting off buildings. And with the FoliageLock(TM) feature, a SiRF-enabled receiver can process GPS signals that are significantly weaker than minimum GPS specifications, providing better navigation under foliage environments.

The SiRFstar architecture reduces system-level costs for GPS products in two ways: the ability to work with inexpensive crystals and filters instead of expensive components used by GPS receivers today; and integration at the chip-set level, which enables system designers to reduce components and improve performance.

SiRF Solution Components

The SiRFstar solution consists of a chip set and modular software. The GRF1, RF Front-end IC, converts the satellite's RF spread spectrum signal into digital inputs for the companion digital signal processor chip, the GSP1. Employing parallel design, the GSP1 supports 12 independent channels of satellite data, each capable of signal reacquisition in one-tenth of a second.

For simple integration with any standard microprocessor, the GSP1 offers simple, direct, memory-mapped access to all on-chip functions. And the GSW1 modular software is portable across a variety of microprocessors and operating systems.

Pricing/availability

SiRFstar chips and software will be available in October, 1996; samples are available immediately. In addition, evaluation kits containing all the hardware, software and documentation necessary to evaluate the performance of the SiRFstar architecture, are available now for $995. The SiRFstar GSP1 and SiRFStar GRF1 are priced at $49.95 per pair in 10,000 KU.

About SiRF

SiRF Technology, Inc. was founded in 1995 to bring GPS technology and other wireless communications innovations to a wide range of consumer applications. The company has extensive experience in GPS, spread spectrum, semiconductor and communications technologies. Operating as a fabless semiconductor company, SiRF is able to concentrate its resources on developing high-volume chip set and software solutions that will serve high-growth markets such as consumer GPS navigation and wireless communications markets. -0-

Note to Editors: Photography and artwork are available upon request. SiRF is a registered trademark and the SiRF logo, SiRFstar, SnapLock, FoliageLock and SingleSat are trademarks of SiRF Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: SiRF Technology Inc.

Kanwar Chadha, 408/737-6607

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Evans Communications

Shannon Osthimer, 415/595-0796

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