Staccato Communications, Samsung and General Atomics Test UWB Multiband OFDM Evaluation System for FCC Compliance.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO and SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 2003

UWB Evaluation System Passes Most Stringent Measurement

Procedures Established by the FCC in February 2002

Staccato Communications, Samsung Electronics (SAIT), and General Atomics today announced they have collaborated to test an Ultra Wideband (UWB) evaluation system based on the Multi-Band OFDM Alliance (MBOA) proposal and the system successfully adhered to the strict guidelines set forth by the FCC. The device was tested by TDK RF Solutions test facility in Austin, Texas, where it successfully passed the most challenging measurement procedures for FCC compliance testing. The MBOA proposal is currently the majority-favored proposal under consideration by the IEEE 802.15.3a standards committee to be adopted as the standard for UWB.

"TDK RF Solutions, a division of TDK Corporation, was pleased to work with Staccato, Samsung, and General Atomics in providing the measurement services in our FCC Registered, NVLAP accredited test facility in Austin. We have many years experience of FCC compliance testing and are one of a very few labs that have the capability of performing high frequency antenna analysis, EMC regulatory work, and specialized UWB measurements," said Pat Carson, Vice President, Business Development for TDK R&D Corporation.

"The key to a successful future for UWB is to ensure peaceful coexistence with all spectrum users," said Roberto Aiello, CEO, Staccato Communications. "This test finally confirms our own internal lab tests and simulation results. Multi-Band OFDM is the best approach for using the UWB spectrum for high bit-rate applications as allowed by the FCC because it enables us to sculpt our spectral shape under software control ensuring we can meet the FCC's requirements today, as we have just shown, and in the future. It also gives us the flexibility to easily meet the requirements of emerging UWB regulatory policy in other regions of the world."

"Certification lab tests have now shown that real MBOA hardware generates a signal within the guidelines prescribed by the FCC for UWB communications," said General Atomics Photonics Division's Dave Furuno, Founder and Manager of the Advanced Wireless Group. "General Atomics has built numerous generations of UWB systems including single-band and pulsed multi-band technology. It is our experience that Multi-Band OFDM has the best range and performance for 802.15.3a applications while also providing the best characteristics and flexibility to meet the regulatory requirements and coexistence with other wireless standards."

"I am pleased that, through our collaboration with Staccato, we have been able to successfully implement a transmitter compliant with the future IEEE 802.15.3a standard," said Dr. Yong Suk Kim, UWB Project Manager, Samsung Electronics (SAIT). "This clears the way for final IEEE confirmation of the MBOA proposal which, in turn, means we will see standardized UWB-based products much sooner than many predicted. This should also be a strong signal to other worldwide regulatory bodies that are considering the IEEE 802.15.3a standard and the regulatory issues surrounding UWB."

About Staccato Communications

Staccato Communications Inc., a fabless semiconductor company based in San Diego, is devoted to developing innovative Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology. Founded in 2002 by industry veterans who have been pioneering UWB technology since 1996, Staccato has an experienced engineering team that has built several of the only high-speed CMOS RF silicon devices shipping in volume today. The company is leading industry development of the first UWB silicon in all-CMOS to enable universal wireless connectivity of high-speed devices using available UWB spectrum. Staccato is forging strategic industry alliances with major consumer electronics manufacturers including Samsung Electronics to accelerate time-to-market of UWB-enabled products. Members of the company's executive team are active in promoting industry standards through IEEE and ETSI committees, including the creation of new IEEE standards for high-speed and very low-power wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Staccato's executives are among the founding members of the IEEE 802.15.3a committee, 802.15.4SGa committee (as well as chair), Multiband Coalition (www.uwbmultiband.org) and Multiband OFDM Alliance (www.multibandofdm.org). For more, go to www.staccatocommunications.com.

About General Atomics

General Atomics, founded in 1955 with corporate headquarters in San Diego, Calif., specializes in diversified research, development, and manufacturing in commercial, defense, energy, and other advanced technology arenas. Ultra-Wideband technology is being developed within the Photonics Division, which is focused on the development of products containing advanced laser, wireless and sensor technologies. Established in 2000 as part of the Photonics Division, the Advanced Wireless Group has designed, tested, and built 7 generations of UWB hardware and is scheduled to sample the industry's first multi-band chipset later this year for both commercial and Government applications. General Atomics is actively engaged in IEEE standardization activities such as 802.15.3a (SG3a technical editor) and 802.15.4SGa (vice-chair), and is founding member of the Multi-Band Coalition and Multi-Band OFDM Alliance. For more information, please visit www.ga.com/uwb or call 858-457-8700.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital convergence technology. Samsung Electronics employs approximately 64,000 people in 89 offices in 47 countries. Samsung Electronics is the world's largest producer of memory chips, TFT-LCDs, CDMA mobile phones, smart card chips, display driver ICs, monitors, and VCRs. Samsung Electronics consists of four main business units: Digital Media Network, Device Solution Network, Telecommunication Network, and Digital Appliance Network Businesses. For more information, please visit the web site http://samsungelectronics.com.

About TDK Corporation

TDK Corporation (NYSE:TDK) is a leading global electronics company based in Japan. It was established in 1935, and today offers a broad range of advanced mobile connectivity solutions, antennas and test systems, ferrite materials, electronic components and ICs, magnetic heads for HDD, digital recording hardware and advanced digital recording media. Net sales in FY2002 were US$5.7 billion. For more information about TDK, please visit www.tdk.com or www.tdk.co.jp or contact Pat Carson, Vice President, Business Development for TDK R&D Corporation, 408-467-5218 or [e-mail].

Note to Editors: OFDM is an acronym for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. Complementary MOS (CMOS) is the most widely used type of integrated circuit for digital processors and memories.

Photographs of the evaluation system are available.