Jennic Adopts Fabless Semiconductor Business Model

Positions company to maximize wireless connectivity market opportunities

SHEFFIELD, UK – 8th October 2004 -- Jennic announced that it is repositioning its wireless connectivity business from a traditional intellectual property (IP) approach to a fabless manufacturing business model, offering complete integrated circuits (IC) directly to its customer base. This move, the first step to becoming the IC market leader for wireless enabled sensor and control networks, follows the company’s launch earlier this year of the industry’s first complete IP portfolio for the IEEE802.15.4 and ZigBeeTM protocols.

Jennic’s single-silicon-chip offers the highest level of integration - including radio, micro-controller, and peripherals – for this class of application. The device provides robust, secure wireless transmission with long battery life for wireless enabled sensor and control applications including residential and industrial control, personal health care, computer/gaming peripherals and consumer electronics. The company’s shift is being driven by customers who want to reduce time-to-market by eliminating the need to develop and prove their own ICs.

The transition comes at a time when the market for wirelessly connected equipment in industrial applications, commercial buildings and the home is set for rapid growth. According to In-Stat/MDR annual shipments of IEEE802.15.4 wireless personal area networks and ZigBee solutions will surpass 150 million units in 2008. Supporting this rapid growth trend, On World forecasts that industrial process monitoring, commercial building control, and home automation will consume 330 million radios in 2010. A single-chip solution is widely seen as the key to unlock this potential.

“We have a clear lead in single-chip integration for this market and we intend to capitalize on this lead by adopting a fabless model,” stated Jim Lindop the CEO and founder of Jennic. “This transition allows us to maximize the market opportunity whilst helping our customers ramp up production quickly. We have demonstrated functional first silicon to strategic customers; we are working with world-class manufacturing partners and will be delivering quantities approaching cellular phone numbers by the end of the decade”.

Since launching the IP portfolio in February, 2004, Jennic has been an active member of the standards committees (IEEE802.15.4 and ZigBeeTM) and is seen as a technical leader following recent interoperability trials.

In order to leverage the current technical leadership, support the company’s expansion into fabless manufacturing, and develop the worldwide customer support network associated with a fabless company, a third round of private funding, supported by current investors, is in progress.

Lindop added, “Whilst the transition to the fabless model in the wireless connectivity market represents a great opportunity for us as a company, we will continue to support our IP customers for wireline products such as physical layer framers, access co-processors, line-card connectivity, and other IP. This has been, and continues to be, an important part of our revenue stream.”

About Jennic
Jennic is a fabless semiconductor company leading the wireless connectivity revolution into new applications. Jennic combines expertise in systems and software with world class RF and digital chip design to provide low cost, highly integrated silicon solutions for its customers and partners. Headquartered in Sheffield, UK, Jennic is privately held and has an 8 year track record of successful silicon chip development.

About IEEE802.15.4
The IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Personal Area Network standard, approved in May 2003, provides a worldwide standard for low data rate solutions with multi-month to multi-year battery life and very low complexity. It is intended to operate in an unlicensed, international frequency band. Potential applications are residential and industrial control, personal health care, computer/gaming peripherals and consumer electronics. www.ieee802.org/15/pub/TG4.html

About ZigBee
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance is a rapidly growing, non-profit industry consortium of leading semiconductor manufacturers, technology providers, OEMs, and end-users worldwide. Membership is open to all. Additional information can be found at www.zigbee.org.