Wind River, MIPS Technologies Create Center of Excellence, Align High-Demand Embedded RISC Processors, Development Tools

  

			FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	Media Contact: Constance Sweeney, MIPS Technologies, Inc.  650 567 5059 cks@mips.com		Pamela Sufi Wind River Systems, Inc. 510-749-2340 pamela.sufi@windriver.com

Wind River, MIPS Technologies Create Center of Excellence, Align High-Demand Embedded RISC Processors, Development Tools

Multi-Year Collaborative Agreement Ensures Early, Optimized Products for Digital Consumer, Networking Markets

EMBEDDED PROCESSOR FORUM, SAN JOSE, Calif., June 12, 2000 - Wind River Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: WIND) and MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPS) today announced creation of the Wind River/MIPS Center of Excellence (COE), part of a unique Wind River initiative to collaborate closely on a one-on-one basis with key embedded semiconductor partners. (See September 29, 1999 Wind River news release describing the Center of Excellence initiative.)

As part of the agreement, the companies will combine engineering and marketing resources to facilitate porting, optimization and distribution of Wind River's marketshare leading software, including the Tornado® development platform and VxWorks® real time operating system, for MIPS Technologies MIPS32[tm] and MIPS64[tm] processor architectures, as well as earlier MIPS Instruction Set Architectures. In a recent study, Gartner Group/Dataquest found that for 2000, embedded processor cores based on flexible, high-performance, high-value 32- and 64-bit MIPS-based[tm] designs have the highest perceived demand of any processor architecture, with 22 percent of all system-level integration designs. This multi-year partnership will deliver products that allow embedded developers to build networking and consumer product applications faster and more easily.

"The Wind River/MIPS Technologies Center of Excellence is truly a 'win-win' situation that gives both companies a unique opportunity to define the future of embedded technology and great products for our customers,"said John Bourgoin, chairman and CEO of MIPS Technologies. "Our goal is to bring embedded developers best-of-breed solutions that really help the industry move faster and build more innovative applications. By working intimately with the marketshare embedded software leader Wind River, we believe that we can do that."

"Wind River created the Center of Excellence initiative because there was a clear need for closer ties between leading embedded semiconductor and software providers,"said Jerry Fiddler, chairman of Wind River. "MIPS Technologies was a logical choice for us to partner with because of its strong reputation and high-performance, high-value microprocessors. And because of our mutual commitment to customer needs, we believe the Wind River/MIPS Technologies Center of Excellence will be a great asset to the developer community."Fiddler will be the keynote speaker at the Embedded Processor Forum in San Jose, California, an event at which MIPS Technologies will be the main hosting company.

Under the 3-year agreement, Wind River will continue to support the MIPS architecture as both companies develop and extend their products. The relationship is also structured to allow MIPS Technologies licensees to join the COE program to ensure that their specific processors and development boards are supported. The first MIPS licensee to sign up for the Wind River/MIPS Center of Excellence is Quantum Effect Devices (QED).

"There is an army of design teams developing MIPS-based products with Wind River software worldwide,"said Tom Riordan, president and CEO of QED. "The embedded applications space is exploding and proven leaders like Wind River and MIPS Technologies are stepping up to reduce development cycles and preserve technology investments. We are excited to be the first partner in the Wind River/MIPS Technologies Center of Excellence as optimized development tools resulting from this agreement will help design teams offer well-tailored products faster. That is exactly what the market needs."

Jump Start on Development
Because the collaborative effort between the two companies ensures a more integrated software offering early in the embedded microprocessor development cycle, embedded developers building networking and digital consumer applications can leverage the results of the Wind River/MIPS Technologies Center of Excellence and accelerate their time-to-market, giving them a competitive edge.

• Developers gain a complete hardware and software solution early in the product life cycle, enabling early prototyping and application development. n The collaboration ensures that the software makes the most of new processor architectural features, providing highly optimized hardware and software solutions.
• Coordinated product roadmaps will preserve current and future investments in technology; for example, software is optimized to take advantage of future MIPS Technologies processor IP (intellectual property).
• Leading embedded software and hardware technologies will be fully compatible, simplifying the development process, reducing development costs, and fostering cutting-edge applications with more functionality.
• Both companies have a strong commitment to meeting the unique needs of the digital consumer and networking markets.

About MIPS Technologies, Inc.
MIPS Technologies, Inc. is one of the world's primary architects of embedded 32- and 64-bit RISC processors. 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 Microprocessor Design Group (Cadence); 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[tm] intellectual property. MIPS Technologies, Inc. is based in Mountain View, California, and can be reached at 650-567-5000 or http://www.mips.com.

About Wind River Systems, Inc.
Wind River Systems, Inc., http://www.windriver.com, is the worldwide leader in embedded software. Wind River provides software development tools, real-time operating systems, and advanced connectivity for use in products throughout the Internet, telecommunications and data communications, digital imaging, networking, medical, computer peripherals, automotive, and aerospace/defense markets. Wind River is how smart things think. Founded in 1983, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations in 15 countries worldwide. # # #

Wind River Systems, the Wind River Systems logo, Tornado and VxWorks are registered trademarks of Wind River Systems, Inc.

MIPS is a registered trademark and MIPS-based, MIPS32 and MIPS64 are trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc.
 

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