Virata and SONICblue Demonstrate Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) at Microsoft's Windows XP Launch in New York City.

Business Editors, Technology Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24,2001

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] SONICblue's New ReplayTV 4000 Digital Video Recorders Enable Great User Experiences on Home Networks with Advanced Video and File Sharing

Virata(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:VRTA) and SONICblue(TM) (Nasdaq: SBLU) today joined Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) in New York City to demonstrate their support of the Microsoft Windows XP launch.

The two companies will be demonstrating Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) functionality on SONICblue's new ReplayTV(R) 4000 digital video recorder (DVR), the first networked and broadband-enabled DVR.

The ReplayTV 4000 enables new user experiences, such as the ability to have multiple recording units in the home that are able to communicate and share files with one another over the Internet, as well as with a Windows XP-enabled PC or with other ReplayTV 4000 DVRs. During the development of the ReplayTV 4000, SONICblue was able to add UPnP support by utilizing Virata's turn-key UPnP software solution, which enables developers to quickly add UPnP functionality to their products and applications.

"Our UPnP solution is ideal for a wide variety of industries, including imaging products such as scanners, printers and fax machines and digital media products such as DVRs and storage devices," said Duncan Greatwood, vice president of marketing for Virata. "In addition, we are enabling our entire customer base consisting of more than 160 broadband DSL modem manufacturers to automatically support UPnP by integrating our UPnP solution into our leading Integrated Software on Silicon(TM) (ISOS(TM)) platform."

"Our new ReplayTV 4000 DVRs leverage UPnP functionality for seamless connectivity across the home network, enabling the product to act as a true home media server," said Ed Brachocki, vice president, video product line, SONICblue. "We're excited to participate in Microsoft's launch of Windows XP, and have the opportunity to showcase the impressive video and file sharing capabilities of the ReplayTV 4000, which are visibly enhanced when operating on a Windows XP Home Edition platform."

"Today's launch of Windows XP represents the arrival of a new standard of computing," said Shawn Sanford, group product manager for Windows XP at Microsoft Corp. "Microsoft is excited to have the support of Virata and SONICblue to deliver great new UPnP-enabled Windows XP computing experiences to our customers."

What is UPnP

UPnP is a networking architecture supported by Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me) and Windows XP that enables network devices of all forms, such as PCs, PDAs, printers, broadband routers, consumer electronics, etc., to be truly plug and play on the home network. UPnP devices can seamlessly connect and communicate with each other over any TCP/IP network, without the need for user configuration, centralized servers, PCs, or product-specific driver software. What makes UPnP even more appealing is the fact that it builds upon existing standards and technologies, such as TCP/IP and HTTP, and is anticipated to simplify consumer-service activation for a wide range of service types. UPnP is positioned to become a powerful pervasive peer-to-peer networking architecture and is capable of enabling a truly intelligent home or office, where smart devices communicate, self configure and bring a wide array of services and information to the users' fingertips.

About SONICblue Incorporated (www.SONICblue.com)

SONICblue is a leader in the converging Internet, digital media, entertainment and consumer electronics markets. Working with partners that include some of the biggest brands in consumer electronics, SONICblue creates and markets products that let consumers enjoy all the benefits of a digital home and connected lifestyle. SONICblue holds significant financial assets, global marketing capabilities and a focused technology portfolio that includes Rio(R) digital audio players; ProGear(TM) Information Appliances; ReplayTV(R) personal television technology and software solutions; Go-Video(R) Dual-Deck(TM) VCRs and integrated DVD+VCRs and California Audio Labs high-end home entertainment theater components.

About Virata

Virata provides communications software and semiconductors to manufacturers of DSL, wireless, satellite and other broadband networking equipment. Virata's suite of processor-independent software products provide developers with complete, field-proven implementations of networking functions, including MPLS and web servers, removing the need to write and validate new software code.

Virata also pre-integrates its extensive suite of communications software with its powerful and cost-effective communications processors to create Virata-Enabled(TM) ISOS products. These ISOS solutions assist customers in developing a diverse range of broadband wireless and wireline equipment including DSL modems, gateways, routers, and integrated access devices targeted at the voice and high-speed data network access and customer premises markets. Virata's products also help equipment manufacturers to simplify product development, reduce the time it takes for products to reach the market and focus resources on product differentiation and improvement.

Virata is a member of the ATM Forum, Bluetooth SIG organization, the DSL Forum, HomePNA, ITU, MPLS Forum, WC3 consortium, and UPnP Forum; and holds a seat on the UPnP Forum Steering Committee. A publicly traded company on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Virata was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. For more information, please visit www.virata.com.

Virata is a registered trademark, and ISOS, Integrated Software on Silicon are trademarks of Virata. SONICblue is a trademark of SONICblue Incorporated. ReplayTV is a registered trademark of ReplayTV, Inc. All other trade, product, or service names referenced in this release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Except for historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Due to increasing uncertainties in the company's market, the company's degree of visibility on future revenues and earnings and associated confidence level in forecast information is less than in past quarters. Factors that might cause a difference include, but are not limited to, those relating to general business and economic conditions, evolving industry standards, the pace of development and market acceptance of our products, those of our customers and the DSL market generally, the rate of DSL deployments, commercialization and technological delays or difficulties, changes in customer order patterns and the product volume of such orders, the financial condition of our customers, risks of customer loss, the impact of competitive products and technologies, competitive pricing pressures, manufacturing availability and risks, dependence on third party suppliers, the uncertainties associated with international operations, the possibility of our products infringing patents and other intellectual property of third parties, risks due to limited protection of our intellectual property, product defects, costs of product development, our ability to attract and retain employees, the company's ability to extract value from acquisitions, manufacturing and government regulation and other risk factors listed from time to time in the reports and other documents Virata files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation, the report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal first quarter ended July 1, 2001. Virata assumes no obligation to revise or update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.