MIPS Technologies and Appnet reach accord for supply of advanced SoC prototyping platform for processor cores

MIPS TECHNOLOGIES AND APPNET REACH ACCORD FOR SUPPLY OF ADVANCED SOC PROTOTYPING PLATFORM FOR PROCESSOR CORES

System Enables Early Hardware/Software Development of Complex MIPS-based SOC Designs

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., -- July 17, 2000 - MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS, MIPSB), a leading provider of industry standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and network applications, and AppNet, Inc. today announced that AppNet will be supplying a complete SOC (system-on-chip) prototyping platform, called Proteus, for MIPS Technologies' MIPS32 4Kc™ processor cores. The new system, which will use MIPS32 4Kc silicon for accurate prototyping, is intended for early hardware and software integration of complex SOC designs.

"AppNet is pleased to be working with MIPS Technologies to develop advanced prototyping tools for MIPS Technologies' industry-leading processor cores," said Dick Clover, President and CEO of AppNet. "The AppNet solution is a breakthrough that lowers the price point for commercial prototyping hardware, making use of the AppNet product instead of a custom prototyping board design the methodology of choice to address first-time-functional, manufacturable, complex systems-in-silicon."

"AppNet's prototyping tools will help our customers accelerate their development of advanced MIPS-based systems," stated Brian Knowles, Vice President of Marketing at MIPS Technologies. "In today's fast-paced market environment, reducing time to market is critical to the success of our customers. The Proteus family of products will contribute to that success by supporting the development of MIPS-based designs containing millions of gates."

AppNet's new products make possible a superior approach for the rapid development of high-speed mixed-signal prototypes. Eight- and 20-site FPGA (field-programmable gate-array) boards dedicated for storing partitioned versions of the customer's RTL design are available which may also be partially populated or stacked together for supporting designs of 250K gates to 10M gates. Also, each of the FPGAs can be replaced with actual MIPS32 4Kc silicon device, emulating a multi-core SOC. Clock rates range from 10MHz to 50MHz.

System software is available for partitioning, for mapping interconnects, for generating a simulation model and for providing probe signals. AppNet's software also generates a net-list that describes the interconnection of the FPGA, thus creating an accurate hardware prototype of the SOC. Special plug-in adapters allow the use of customer specific components, and standard products like DRAM.

Entry cost of a prototyping package is competitively priced starting at $100,000. As a result, chip design teams can choose to buy multiple prototyping systems in order to provide units for each hardware and software engineer on the team. Since the engineers do not need to wait for first silicon, the design teams can shorten the overall time to market by three to six months or more.

AppNet is the leading provider of affordable, easy-to-use, high-performance prototyping solutions that accelerate time-to-market of complex networking and other microprocessor-based systems-in-silicon. AppNet has been in business since 1995 offering emulation and verification consulting services to major companies' chip design teams. More recently, AppNet has developed its own prototyping tools and now provides those tools along with application engineering support from its team of consultants.

About AppNet, Inc.
AppNet is located at 1674 N. Shoreline Blvd #130, Mountain View, CA 94043. It can be reached at +1 650 964-1235 or by fax at +1 650 964-8720 or by email at info@appnetinc.com. More information can be seen on AppNet's website, www.appnetinc.com.

About MIPS Technologies, Inc.
MIPS Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of industry standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and network applications. The company drives the broadest architectural alliance that is delivering 32- and 64-bit embedded RISC solutions. The company licenses its intellectual property to semiconductor companies, ASIC developers, and system OEMs. MIPS Technologies, Inc. and its licensees offer the widest range of robust, scalable processors in standard, custom, semi-custom and application-specific products.

Licensees currently include: Alchemy Semiconductor, Inc.; Altera Corporation; ATI Technologies, Inc.; Broadcom Corporation; Centillium Communications, Inc.; Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing; CommQuest (IBM); ESS Technology, Inc.; Excess Bandwidth; General Instrument Corporation; Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT); Lara Networks, Inc.; LSI Logic Corporation; Macronix; Metalink Ltd.; NEC Corporation; NKK Corporation; Philips Semiconductors; Quantum Effect Devices, Inc. (QED); QuickLogic Corporation; Sandcraft, Inc.; SiByte, Inc.; Sony Corporation; Synova; Texas Instruments Incorporated; Toshiba Corporation; and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Numerous companies utilize MIPS-based™ intellectual property. MIPS Technologies, Inc. is based in Mountain View, California, and can be reached at 650-567-5000 or http://www.mips.com.

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Please direct MIPS Technologies sales inquiries to: Martin Kingdom, MIPS Technologies, Windmill Business Park, Whitehill Way, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK SN5 6QR. Tel +44 1793 441 470. Fax +44 1793 441 570. Email: eurosales@mips.com

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