Phylinks further strengthens team with new CEO, additional director

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- June 24, 2008 -- Expanding the depth of its executive team, Phylinks Limited. today announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer and a new board director to accelerate the company’s leadership in the competitive IP cores market.

Tony Palmer has been named CEO of Phylinks, taking over the role from Nabil Takla who continues to serve as company chairman. Gary Johnson has been elected as a member of the Board of Directors.

“I’ve been watching for the right leaders to help take Phylinks to the next level, and I found them in Tony and Gary. Having seasoned executives of this caliber joining the Phylinks team is a testament to the strength of our technology, talent of our people, and unlimited potential for success,” said Takla. “With their wisdom and experience on board, Phylinks is wellpositioned to achieve continued growth and be the trusted partner in the highspeed serial interface IP market.”

Palmer joins Phylinks with more than 30 years of design and management experience – successfully starting several companies, building strong management teams and creating innovative development groups.

As the founder and CEO of VirtenSys, a leading provider of virtualization solutions, Palmer built the core development teams and secured more than $13 million in startup funding. Before that, he was vice president of silicon development at Xyratex Technology, developing advanced switching interconnect systems, and was vice president of engineering at PowerX, an early progressive switch company. He started his career in VLSI engineering at ICL in Manchester, U.K.

“Phylinks has a strong heritage of innovation, customer service and unmatched mixedsignal IP expertise, thanks to extraordinary engineering and development teams,” said Palmer. “Expanding upon that success is an exciting challenge, including guiding the launch of several new products in the coming months.”

Phylinks’ first independent board director, Gary Johnson, brings an extensive background in building and transforming technology startups. Based in Silicon Valley, Johnson was the president and CEO of PortalPlayer, the leading supplier of lowpower application processors for portable media players, including iPods.

He took the company public in 2004, which ultimately merged with Nvidia Corp. in 2007. Previous semiconductor experience includes S3, a provider of multimedia semiconductors, where he joined as the first general manager and progressed to becoming the CEO. Johnson also spent seven years at National Semiconductor, founding two wireless business units, and he started his career at British Telecom Research Lab in Martlesham, U.K.

“Innovation in the world of advanced communications continues to explode, driving new demands for semiconductors, and it is clear Phylinks can continue to deliver breakthrough technology and support that customers can rely on,” said Johnson. “It truly is an opportunity to join this board at this time.”

“I’m excited about working with these highperformance leaders to shape the vision and future of Phylinks in one of the fastestgrowing segments of the semiconductor market,” said Takla.

About Phylinks

Phylinks Limited provides a portfolio of IP cores for the design of physical layer (PHY) highspeed serial interfaces. Phylinks cores can be implemented in a variety of chip designs for use in advanced PCs, PC peripherals, servers, 3G communications devices, consumer electronics and multimedia devices. Phylinks was founded in December 2005 by Antony Sou and Philip Hodgett – two experienced mixedsignal designers with over 40 years of combined experience. In 2006, Nabil Takla, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who also is CEO of Innovative Semiconductors Inc., invested in Phylinks and joined the management team as chairman and CEO. Phylinks has offices in Manchester, U.K., and San Francisco, Calif. For more information, visit www.phylinks.com.

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