Strategic Partnership Addresses 5GHz Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and Future Wireless Technologies

San Jose, Calif. and Leuven, Belgium, July 9, 2001— Resonext™ Communications, Inc., a leading developer of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) semiconductor products, today announced a three-year broad strategic partnership with Belgian-based IMEC to address the 5GHz WLAN market.  IMEC is a leading European independent research center focused on the development and licensing of microelectronics, information and communications technologies.  Under the terms of this partnership, Resonext will incorporate IMEC's Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) core into its wireless LAN modem products.  OFDM is the de-facto modulation technique for emerging broadband Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards like IEEE 802.11a and ETSI HiperLan2.

Resonext will also actively participate in IMEC’s Industrial Affiliation Program on future wireless systems for data rates of 150Mbit/s and more.  To maximize the collaboration and interaction with IMEC engineers, Resonext has expanded its operations with the opening of a Technology Development Center in Flanders, Belgium.  Resonext Communications worked closely together with the Flanders Foreign Investment Office (FFIO) in establishing this center.

Wireless LAN adoption continues its rapid expansion, growing from its solid base of data-centric applications today to the much larger opportunities represented by the growing number of multimedia applications.  High-speed 5GHz wireless networking will drive real-time communication in a wide variety of applications at home, in the office and in public access areas.

“IMEC is working closely with Resonext Communications to develop technologies for highly integrated 802.11a/Hiperlan2 products,” stated Prof. Gilbert Declerck, President and CEO of IMEC.  “The combination of Resonext's expertise in CMOS-RF, wireless networking and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) coupled with our core competencies in RF front-end, OFDM, DSP and system-level design will result in standards compliant, highly integrated and cost-effective Integrated Circuits (IC’s) for tomorrow's high-speed wireless networks.” 

“IMEC is a well-respected institute in Europe whose competencies span all aspects of semiconductor manufacturing and System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design, stated David Tahmassebi, President and CEO for Resonext Communications.  “IMEC has a proven OFDM technology, which Resonext will rapidly incorporate and commercialize in its products. We look forward to working closely with IMEC on this and future endeavors.”

---ends---

Notes to editors

About Resonext Communications, Inc.

Based in San Jose, California, Resonext Communications has the mission to become the world's leading supplier of high speed, cost effective IC solutions for wireless networks   Resonext will address the broadband WLAN market by offering Radio Frequency (RF) on CMOS, digital baseband, Media Access Controller (MAC) as well as protocol stack software.  Resonext has experienced management and engineering teams with extensive wireless communications experience and a rich IP portfolio.  Resonext is privately held.  For more information, please visit Resonext website at www.resonext.com

About IMEC

IMEC was founded in 1984 and today is Europe's leading independent research center for the development and licensing of microelectronics, and information and communication technologies (ICT). IMEC is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has a staff of more than 1100 people including more than 350 industrial residents. Its more than $100 million revenue is derived from agreements and contracts with Flemish government, the EC, MEDEA, the European Space Agency, equipment and material suppliers and semiconductor companies worldwide. IMEC's activities concentrate on design of integrated information and communication systems; silicon process technology; silicon technology and device integration; microsystems, components and packaging; advanced training in microelectronics. IMEC has a sub-0.25µm 200mm pilot line and is ISO9001 certified. News from IMEC is located at www.imec.be.

About Flanders Foreign Investment Office (FFIO)

The Flanders Foreign Investment Office, the economic development agency of the Government of Flanders in Belgium, provides professional and confidential advice on establishing or optimizing your pan-European presence. The FFIO has offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco.  For more information, please visit www.ffio.com.

For more information:

Katrien Marent                                                                                                    Robert Fan

Communication Manager                                                                                 Resonext Communications Inc.

Public Relations and Marketing Communications                                       Tel +001 408 392 70 47

IMEC, Kapeldreef 75                                                                                         Email: Robert.fan@resonext.com

B- 3001 Leuven, Belgium

Tel +32 16 28 18 80

Fax +32 16 28 16 37

Email: Katrien.Marent@imec.be