Staccato Communications Announces Convergence Product Roadmap for Certified Wireless USB, WiNet and Bluetooth/Bluetooth-over-UWB Technologies

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Press Release 03/2006

Staccato Communications Announces Convergence Product Roadmap for Certified Wireless USB, WiNet and Bluetooth/Bluetooth-over-UWB Technologies

San Diego, CA, March 2006 * * * Staccato Communications, an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless technology pioneer and Certified Wireless USB leader, announced its full support for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group's (SIG) selection of WiMedia UWB as its platform for next generation Bluetooth technology. Staccato also announced its three-step product roadmap for the convergence of Certified Wireless USB, WiMedia WiNet (Internet Protocol) and Bluetooth/Bluetooth-over-UWB technologies.

Convergence Product Roadmap:

" Step One - Combine existing Bluetooth solutions with Staccato's Ripcord solution based on Certified Wireless USB on a single MiniCard and USB dongle reference designs for PC applications.
" Step Two - Port Bluetooth-over-UWB software profile(s), as specified by the Bluetooth SIG, directly on to Staccato's Ripcord silicon.
" Step Three - Integrate any new silicon blocks required by the Bluetooth-over-UWB specification into Staccato's existing Ripcord single-chip, all-CMOS solution.

The first step combines legacy Bluetooth support with the approximately 250 times performance improvement that comes with Certified Wireless USB. This allows customers to launch combination solutions into the market immediately. The second step includes the new Bluetooth-over-UWB specification on Staccato's single-chip Ripcord product. This step will realize the vision shared by Staccato and WiMedia of 'one-radio, multiple protocols' for the first time by providing simultaneous support for Certified Wireless USB, WiMedia's WiNet protocol, due later this year, and the new Bluetooth-over-UWB protocol, expected to be finalized in 2007. The third step would then finally integrate any additional silicon blocks required into the current Ripcord single-chip, all-CMOS package enabling all Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) standards to be supported on a single inexpensive silicon solution.

"Staccato's single-chip CMOS UWB solution will allow it to benefit from a growing number of applications for UWB solutions, including Bluetooth-over-UWB and Certified Wireless USB. And the fact that it offers a multi-protocol device puts Staccato in an excellent position against the competition." said Brian O'Rourke, senior analyst for In-Stat.

Staccato's product roadmap is enabled by the Ripcord PIK (Protocol Independent Kernel) MAC (Medium Access Control) technology, which is a protocol independent kernel, based on a custom implementation of hardware acceleration and ARM9 software control. This patent-pending technology has been designed for gigabit-speed heterogeneous protocol environments exactly like the Certified Wireless USB / WiNet / Bluetooth combination enabled by today's announcement.

"Our architecture and product plans have long anticipated the announcement by the Bluetooth SIG. We expect to be the first to introduce Bluetooth-over-UWB compliant products with multi-protocol support," said Marty Colombatto, chief executive officer of Staccato Communications. "Staccato not only shares WiMedia's vision of 'one-radio multiple protocols', we helped create much of the underlying specifications that make it possible. The world needs only one radio for all wireless personal area networks and that's what we intend to provide using our Ripcord PIK MAC technology as the foundation."

"The Bluetooth SIG's action sets a clear and definitive path for the next generation of Bluetooth technology and we welcome this decision," said Roberto Aiello, chief technology officer of Staccato Communications and WiMedia Board member. "We view the two technologies as completely complementary and we believe the WiMedia radio platform was the ideal choice considering its broad support among industry leaders, its ability to meet interoperability and worldwide regulatory requirements and its support for multi-protocol designs with a single radio. Ripcord was designed by a staff of Staccato engineers with decades of combined experience in Bluetooth chip development. However, consumers don't really care about underlying technology, they care about making connections quickly and easily - and they expect it to work every time. Products based on Certified Wireless USB or Bluetooth-over-UWB and powered by Staccato's Ripcord chip will provide this functionality within a small form factor, with low power and low cost."

About Staccato Products
Based on the WiMedia Alliance's UWB common radio platform and the Certified Wireless USB specification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), Ripcord is implemented in a complete System-In-Package (SiP) using leading 110nm digital CMOS process technology. Ripcord provides a complete, fully integrated solution for the first commercial applications of high-speed UWB at 480 Mbps based on Certified Wireless USB. Ripcord's high level of integration minimizes design risk, lowers system cost and accelerates customers' time-to-market by consolidating all hardware and software components necessary to implement a solution based on Certified Wireless USB.

About Staccato Communications
Based in San Diego, Calif., Staccato Communications is an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology pioneer with applications expertise in Certified Wireless USB, Bluetooth and Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity. The fabless semiconductor company serves the personal computing, consumer electronics and mobile phone industries with small form factor, single-chip, all-CMOS wireless solutions. Staccato's WiMedia-based offerings include PHY, MAC, drivers, application software, development kits and reference designs. For more information, please visit www.staccatocommunications.com.

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Ripcord and PIK are trademarks of Staccato Communications. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:
Editorial Contacts:

Staccato Communications
Julie Cunningham
Tel.: +1-858-812-1060
juliec@staccatocommunications

PRismaPR Germany
Bettina Lerchenmüller
Phone: +49-8106-24 72 33
prismapr@compuserve.com

PRismaPR UK
Monika Cunnington
Phone: +44-1462-64 07 79
monika@prismapr.com