Parthus Announces Availability of New Editions of the Infostream Platform for Microsoft Based Smartphones and Pocket PC PDA's


LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Consumer Electronics Show (CES): Parthus Technologies plc (Nasdaq:PRTH) (LSE:PRH), a leading developer of platform-level intellectual property (IP), today announces two enhanced versions of the Parthus InfoStream(TM) mobile computing platform optimized for Microsoft(r) Pocket PC 2002 and Microsoft(r) Smartphone mobile technologies. Parthus also announces that it has signed a system integrator license with Microsoft which enables Parthus to integrate either Pocket PC or Smartphone software technologies with the InfoStream hardware platform, and market the combined solution to semiconductor and OEM customers of Parthus.

InfoStream(TM) is a mobile computing platform which integrates an ARM9 core, a high performance bus sub-system architecture and an extensive array of popular peripherals. A complete Smartphone/PDA platform is one of the most complex and challenging designs to implement, especially given the power and performance requirements that today's generation of smart mobile devices demand. This latest release of InfoStream is the result of over three years R&D at Parthus and is the most highly integrated, lowest power system-on-chip IP Platforms available in silicon today.

By licensing the complete, pre-integrated and optimized Parthus and Microsoft platform, customers can greatly reduce the complexity, program risk and costs of deploying smart mobile Internet devices, as well as gaining an established and stable system architecture for future upgrades.

The Windows(r) CE 3.0 operating system, including all required device drivers, has been ported to InfoStream. Development tools and evaluation boards for prototyping and application development are also provided. Parthus is delivering two InfoStream editions:


 1) Pocket PC 2002: The Pocket PC 2002 edition of InfoStream runs all
    features including Windows Media Player for audio and video,
    Microsoft Reader, LAN communication interfaces, MSN(r) Messenger
    Services, Active Sync(r), Pocket Outlook(r), Pocket Word & Excel,
    Security services and Pocket Internet Explorer.
 
 2) Microsoft(r) Smartphone Software Solution (formerly code named
    'Stinger'): This edition of InfoStream operates all cell phone
    functions and incorporates easy to navigate data functions such as
    mail, PIM, web browser (WAP, HTML).

Parthus will also support Microsoft's latest Windows(r) embedded release, Windows(r) CE .NET, which incorporates numerous upgrades including improved system reliability, support for Bluetooth and 802.11 wireless technologies, enhanced multimedia and browsing, and support for smart web services through Microsoft's .NET initiative.

"Microsoft has again stretched the boundaries of what is truly possible on mobile devices," said Brian Long, chief executive officer of Parthus. "Unquestionably, developing high performance and smart mobile devices is one of the most technically challenging areas of the mobile Internet revolution. As such, the availability of pre-integrated and proven editions of Microsoft's Pocket PC, Smartphone and Windows CE .NET running on Parthus' InfoStream platform is of immense value to our customers."

About InfoStream

InfoStream combines a high performance ARM 92xT processor (delivering processing speed greater than 200MIPS), with ultra-low power consumption (configurable PLL for selectable processor speeds, 10 channel DMA controller for high bandwidth communications and multimedia functions (USB, AAC, SD), software configurable power states), with highest levels of on-chip integration (all requisite peripherals are on-chip including integrated color LCD controller and sophisticated memory management features). For more information about InfoStream, go to www.parthus.com/platforms/parthus_infostream

About Parthus Technologies

Parthus Technologies plc is one of the world's leading providers of complete platform level intellectual property (IP) solutions targeting the mobile Internet market. Incorporating radio, baseband and software design solutions, Parthus' unrivalled range of mobile Internet platforms are used by the world's largest microprocessor companies and electronics manufacturers in MP3, GPS, GPRS, GSM, 3G and Bluetooth applications. Parthus' broad range of platforms power a diverse range of mobile Internet devices, such as cellular handsets, Smartphones, automobiles, personal audio players and PDAs. Parthus leverages seven years of IP development experience to deploy platforms that lead the industry in terms of ultra-high processing power and low power consumption. These mobile Internet platforms also deliver significant cost and time-to-market advantages to its customers, the world's leading semiconductor companies and OEMs. Parthus is headquartered in Dublin with offices in eight countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:PRH) and NASDAQ (Nasdaq:PRTH). More information on Parthus is available at http://www.parthus.com.

Safe Harbor Statement:

This document may contain "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any "forward looking statements" in this document are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including, without limitation, statements to the effect that the company or its management "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans" and similar expressions) should be considered forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include uncertainties relating to the acceptance of semiconductor intellectual property offerings, expansion of our business, quarterly

variations in results, and other uncertainties that are discussed in our 2000 Annual Report on Form 20-F which is on file with the SEC since June 26, 2001.

Trademarks:

InfoStream is a registered trademark of Parthus Technologies plc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.



            

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