National Semiconductor and iReady Partner to Deliver Highly Scalable Next-Generation Ethernet Communications Solutions

Broad joint development agreement and equity investment highlight alliance to deliver world's first fully integrated transport offload semiconductors

SANTA CLARA, CA-April 2, 2002 - National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM), the premier analog company driving the information age, and iReady Corporation, the world leader in hardware accelerated Internet protocol processing, today announced that they have formed a strategic partnership aimed at delivering next-generation semiconductor solutions for the Gigabit Ethernet and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) storage networking markets. The companies also announced that National served as the lead investor in iReady's recently completed $19 million financing round.

iSCSI is the emerging standard in storage networking. IDC, a market analyst firm, estimates that this market is expected to grow at more than 400 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the next five years.

Under the terms of a broad joint development agreement, National and iReady will together deliver system-on-a-chip solutions which will leverage industry-leading intellectual property from both companies. The result of the partnership will be a combination of TCP/IP, IPsec, GigMAC, GigPHY and iSCSI into a single core.

From iReady:
· Patented hardware TCP/IP technology
· Hardware and software iSCSI technology
· Windows and Linux driver technology
From National Semiconductor:
· Gigabit Ethernet media access controller (MAC)
· Gigabit Ethernet copper and optical physical layer (PHY) devices
· Hardware IPsec
· Advanced server and storage I/O

The companies will incorporate these technologies into a next-generation Ethernet communications stack, the EthernetMAX[tm] (Media Access Xccelerator[tm]) core, that they will jointly market in various semiconductor solutions. The first products from this collaboration are expected later this year.

"National Semiconductor has been a leader in Ethernet technology and product development since its inception," said Michael Noonen, vice president of Wired Communications Division at National Semiconductor. "Our partnership with iReady to develop EthernetMAX architecture and products continues that legacy. With iReady, we will redefine Ethernet performance and deliver truly enhanced productivity, utilization and availability to end users."

"Network storage represents the first of many market opportunities for transport offload technology. Our partnership with National Semiconductor ensures that we will not only be able to deliver best of breed technology solutions to the storage market, but also to a broad spectrum of markets," said Ryo Koyama, CEO of iReady Corporation.

iSCSI is a new Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. iSCSI, which carries SCSI commands over IP networks, is expected to help bring about rapid development of the storage area network (SAN) market by increasing the capabilities and performance of storage data transmission. iSCSI can also be used to transmit data over local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) or the Internet, and can enable location-independent data storage and retrieval.

In addition to National Semiconductor, investors in iReady's financing round included Telos Venture Partners, Donald L. Lucas, Canaan Partners, Jafco of America, Crescendo Ventures, B.J. Cassin, RWI group, Crown Advisors and Black Diamond Ventures.
 

About iReady
Privately held iReady Corporation is the foremost expert in silicon based TCP/IP stack processing solutions. Founded in 1996, the company's patented TCP/IP stack technology uniquely provides full transport off-load for ultra high performance Ethernet networking. Licensees of previous generations of iReady's hardware accelerated TCP/IP stack technology include Toshiba, Seiko Instruments, Sony and Agilent. iReady is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and operates a semiconductor design center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Further information on the company can be found on our web site at http://www.iready.com or call (408) 330-4500.

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor is the premier analog company driving the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of-the-art digital technology, the company is focused on the fast growing markets for wireless handsets; information appliances; information infrastructure; and display, imaging and human interface technologies. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $2.1 billion for the last fiscal year and employs about 9,800 people worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.

National Semiconductor is a registered trademark of National Semiconductor Corporation. EthernetMAX and Media Access Xccelerator are trademarks of iReady Corporation and National Semiconductor Corporation. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
 

Media Contacts:

Mike He
National Semiconductor
(408) 721-5222
mike.he@nsc.com

Margaret Albrecht
iReady
(408) 330-4548
Maggie@iready.com