Wipro Licenses Digital AV Technology to Indigita of US; Reinforces Wipro's Expertise in Embedded Technology.

Business & Technology Editors

BANGALORE, India & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2001

Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT), a leading global provider of IT services to international companies, and Indigita Corporation today jointly announced a worldwide agreement to license Wipro's AV IEEE 1394 industry standard-based hardware and software technology to Indigita Corporation.

Under the terms of the licensing agreement, Indigita gains worldwide access to Wipro's 1394 Audio/Video Link Layer Interface as well as the AV/C Command Set Software. The deal reinforces Wipro's expertise in 1394 technologies and

its status as a preferred choice for buyers in the embedded market.

Wipro Technologies, the global IT services division of Wipro Limited, is a leading provider of engineering design solutions for the embedded and networking markets. Indigita Corporation is a California based leading provider of 1394 (Firewire) connectivity and storage management solutions for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and System Integrators.

IEEE 1394 is facilitating the worldwide transition of consumer electronics, from analog to digital connectivity. IEEE 1394, also known as Firewire or iLink, is a high speed, high performance and low cost serial bus standard that has become an important connectivity mechanism in the digital age. A wide variety of digital electronic products like digital set-top-boxes, digital televisions, digital VCRs, digital video cameras, and other consumer applications will benefit from the interconnectivity solution of Wipro's IEC 61883 compliant Audio/Video (AV) Link Layer Solution (with 5C Digital Transmission Content Protection).

The technology building blocks licensed by Wipro will enable the rapid deployment of high-speed serial communications functionality in ASIC devices to be developed by Indigita. "The use of Wipro's technology will significantly improve Indigita's time-to-market for digital content interchange and communications compliant with industry standards," said Mel Gable, CEO of Indigita Corporation.

"Our Intellectual Property strategy revolves around our capability to combine technology expertise with proven development methodologies, to give our customers a vital competitive advantage in terms of speed-to-market. We are happy to have Indigita as another testimony to our established competence in the 1394 technology domain," said M. Diwakaran, CEO of the Embedded & Internet Access Technologies Division of Wipro Technologies.

Wipro Technologies has a comprehensive portfolio of proven 1394 core technology building blocks that can either be licensed or used to speed development cycle time in custom designs. Wipro's AV Link Layer Interface supports transmission of digital content across the IEEE 1394 bus at speeds of up to 800 Mbps and can seamlessly interface with a high speed 1394a or next generation 1394b Link. The interface is optimized for digital video in accordance with IEC 61883 specifications - a widely agreed upon method for transferring digital video over the IEEE 1394 high performance serial bus. It can process AV content transferred in MPEG-2 data streams as well as in other AV data formats for DV (Digital Video) and DSS (Digital Satellite System) applications. The synthesizable core also supports multiple device-to-device connection while enabling simultaneous transmission and reception of data over each connection.

A key design feature is the implementation of a secure and robust technology for the protection of digital content transmitted between digital electronic products. The content protection technology is jointly developed and promoted by five companies who are leaders in the consumer and computer electronics world, namely Hitachi Ltd., Intel Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation. Wipro's AV Link solution implements the 5C Digital Transmission Content Protection Method (DTCP) to protect the illegal intercepting, tampering and copying of digital data as it traverses the IEEE 1394 bus.

For developing embedded applications, the AV Link is fully supported with software such as HAL. Complementary software comes in the form of the Audio/Video General Command Set (v4.0) software that provides a control mechanism for consumer electronic audio/video equipment transferring data over the Firewire bus.

About Indigita Corporation

Indigita is a leading provider of 1394 (Firewire) connectivity and storage management solutions for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and System Integrators. Indigita's products include high-performance RAID and SAN storage, bridge (tailgate) boards, and 1394 PCI and Cardbus Host Adaptors. Indigita is also using its technological innovations to design chip solutions for 1394 storage and digital AV content protection and management in consumer and computer electronics markets.

About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited is the first SEI CMM Level 5 certified IT Services Company globally. Wipro provides Research and Development services to Telecom and Electronic product companies and software solutions to global corporate enterprises.

In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India offering system integration, network integration and IT services. Wipro also has profitable presence in niche market segments of consumer products and lighting.

Wipro's ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange - Mumbai, and the National Stock Exchange, among others. For more information, please visit our website at www.wipro.com.

All brand or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Wipro has made strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Wipro may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. Wipro does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company.