Microsoft and ARM Announce Eight New Silicon Vendors Are Developing Solutions for Windows CE .NET 4.2

Global Vendors Centrality Communications, Cirrus Logic, Conexant, Globespan Virata, LSI Logic, MagicEyes, NVIDIA and Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas Enable Range of ARM Core-Based, Windows CE-Powered Devices

REDMOND, Wash., and CAMBRIDGE, UK — Sept. 16, 2003 — Microsoft Corp. and ARM today announced that eight new silicon vendors — Centrality Communications, Cirrus Logic Inc., Conexant Systems Inc., Globespan Virata, LSI Logic Corp., MagicEyes Digital Co. Ltd., NVIDIA Corp. and Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas — will develop ARM® core-based solutions optimized for Microsoft® Windows® CE .NET 4.2.

The solutions developed by these companies will further extend the underlying performance, functionality and power efficiency of innovative, next-generation consumer devices. These silicon vendor solutions join existing ARM core-based solutions from vendors including Intel Corp., Motorola Inc.'s Semiconductor Products Sector, NeoMagic Corp., Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. and Texas Instruments Inc. to provide customers with a greater range of new intellectual property (IP) offerings designed for device categories such as multimedia, consumer electronics, digital imaging, gateways, set-top boxes and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phones.

"The close level of technical collaboration between Microsoft, ARM and its licensees has resulted in increased shipments and broadened opportunities for Windows CE .NET running on ARM processors," said Todd Warren, general manager of the Embedded Devices Group at Microsoft. "These relationships have yielded a wide range of choices and exciting new IP offerings to OEMs designing emerging device categories like multimedia, consumer electronics, digital imaging, gateways, set-top boxes and VoIP phones."

"The need to integrate hardware, software and communications protocols has made the development of consumer electronics increasingly complex," said Mike Inglis, executive vice president of marketing at ARM. "It is therefore vital that developers and providers of ARM technology-based solutions work together with industry leaders like Microsoft to develop the features and functionality that will enable the delivery of innovative devices that the market has come to expect. Through our close collaboration, we will be able to ease the development path and help device manufacturers easily and cost-efficiently deliver ARM Powered®, Windows CE .NET products that will meet consumer demands."

Second Annual Executive Summit Promotes Learning and Opportunity
Starting tomorrow, ARM and Microsoft will hold their second annual Executive Summit, a two-day event that will provide 80 attendees from 40 ARM Partner companies with the opportunity to participate in the development of innovative consumer devices and applications running on Windows CE .NET and powered by ARM microprocessors. The summit enables ARM silicon Partners to provide input into the technology and business road maps for Windows CE .NET and ARM microprocessors, which will result in greater innovation and choice of devices for customers and faster time to market for device manufacturers designing the next generation of "smart" devices. The relationship between Microsoft and ARM has delivered increased functionality and performance to silicon partners and device manufacturers of innovative consumer electronics since 1996.

The summit is an invitation-only event that will share confidential technology road maps and marketing strategies. Topics covered at the summit will include Pocket PCs, Smartphones, "Media2Go," Windows Media®, VoIP phones, network gateways, Internet Protocol set-top boxes (IP-STBs), Windows Automotive, Visual Studio® and the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework.

Development in Breadth of Device Categories
The additional collaboration and commitment of eight new silicon vendors that are developing solutions brings the number to 15, demonstrating wide support from industry leaders for ARM and Windows CE .NET-based solutions. The collaboration accelerates the innovation of a range of devices such as VoIP phones, multimedia players and network gateways, as well as the efforts already in motion for personal digital assistants and smart phones. ARM and Windows CE .NET-based solutions in these device categories are expected to be delivered by original device manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers during 2004.

Microsoft's software and ARM's hardware leadership provide device manufacturers with a means to leverage ARM silicon Partners' innovations and integrated development environment to increase functionality and performance and achieve faster time to market for their products.

About the ARM Consortium for Windows CE .NET
The ARM Consortium for Windows CE .NET was born out of the need to respond to increased demand for Windows CE .NET 4.2 support on ARM processors to build next-generation 32-bit connected devices that enable rich applications and services. ARM and Microsoft have come together to combine their industry expertise and provide partner members with a means to speed and optimize development efforts. Membership in the consortium is available to all ARM silicon Partners that want to take advantage of the rich Windows CE .NET 4.2 operating system with ARM Powered solutions, which include a wide array of ARM cores and processors. Microsoft provides all the necessary components that enable ARM core-based solutions for the Windows CE .NET device platform.

About Windows CE .NET
The Windows CE .NET embedded operating system combines an advanced, real-time operating system with the most powerful tools for rapidly creating the next generation of smart, connected, small-footprint devices. The latest version, Windows CE .NET 4.2, expands upon the solid foundation developed in previous Windows CE versions by providing more secure and scalable networking, faster performance, richer multimedia and Web-browsing capabilities, and greater application compatibility across Windows CE-based devices. Windows CE .NET 4.2 includes features that create innovative solutions and deliver differentiated user experiences such as performance-based kernel enhancements and two additional preconfigured design templates for VoIP phones and gateways. In addition, Windows CE .NET 4.2 includes the latest Windows technologies, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Windows Media 9 Series codecs and controls, the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 1.0, and a number of other newly supported protocols and services that provide even greater interoperability among PCs, servers, Web services and devices.

About ARM
ARM (LSE: ARM; Nasdaq: ARMHY) is the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions. The company licenses its high-performance, low-cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals, and system-on-chip designs to leading international electronics companies. ARM also provides comprehensive support required in developing a complete system. ARM's microprocessor cores are rapidly becoming a volume RISC standard in such markets as portable communications, hand-held computing, multimedia digital consumer and embedded solutions. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com/.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows Media and Visual Studio are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

ARM and ARM Powered are registered trademarks of ARM Ltd. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc (LSE: ARM and Nasdaq: ARMHY); its operating company ARM Ltd.; and the regional subsidiaries ARM INC; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd; ARM Taiwan; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; and ARM Belgium N.V.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

"Two years ago, Centrality made a strategic decision to develop our ARM core-based Atlas processor platform using the Microsoft Windows CE .NET software environment. Centrality has leveraged the ARM9 family and Windows CE .NET foundation to gain significant traction in the handset, PDA and automotive worldwide markets. By coupling Centrality's highly integrated Atlas SoC with the tools and support from ARM and Microsoft, Centrality's customers can dramatically reduce their time to market along with their manufacturing costs."
Chi-Shin Wang
CEO
Centrality Communications

"Windows CE .NET's flexibility and time-to-market advantages complement those of Cirrus Logic's EP9312, an ARM920T core-based universal SoC processor. With the EP9312's power-efficient high-performance integration, OEMs are able to deliver innovative consumer entertainment solutions with a variety of interface options in addition to Windows CE .NET's feature-rich application base."
Jean Anne Booth
Director of Marketing
Cirrus Logic

"As the popularity of broadband-enabled services within the digital home has grown, so has the consumer's expectation for reliable, higher-performance devices at reasonable prices. Whether it is a residential gateway, an application such as voice over IP, a set-top box or other digital home solution, we believe that Conexant's ARM core-based semiconductor solutions and Microsoft's feature-rich Windows CE .NET operating system are key enabling technologies that will allow manufacturers globally to satisfy their increasingly knowledgeable and demanding customer base."
Chee Kwan
Vice President of Broadband Access Products
Conexant

"The combination of Globespan Virata's ARM core-based communication processors and Microsoft Windows CE .NET provides the foundation for advanced broadband gateway solutions with flexible networking functionality. From DSL residential gateways to wireless and Ethernet routers, Globespan Virata's Windows CE .NET-enabled solutions allow our OEM customers to design customer premise equipment (CPE) that is easy to use and meets the industry demand for increased flexibility and functionality."
Angelo Stephano
Vice President of Marketing
Globespan Virata

"As the leading provider of ARM technology-compliant processors in Windows CE-based devices, Intel supports industry collaboration that delivers exciting functionality and capabilities while also extending battery life of consumer handheld devices."
Hans Geyer
Vice President and General Manager of the PCA Components Group
Intel Corp.

"LSI Logic leveraged its system-on-a-chip expertise in conjunction with the performance of a 200MHz ARM922T processor and the ARM development environment to rapidly develop its HomeBASE ADSL CPE platform with industry-leading packet throughput performance. Windows CE .NET's comprehensive feature set, excellent development environment and ability to work seamlessly with Windows-based PCs provides ADSL customers with access to fully tested, interoperable solutions and extensions supporting WLAN and VoIP."
Kumar Sivakumar
Senior Director
DSL Product Business Unit
LSI Logic

"We developed two SoCs recently. Both of them use ARM core, and one of them uses two ARM cores in one chip. The combination of ARM technology and Microsoft Windows CE .NET enables us to shorten the development time and provides us flexibility in the mobile application area. The benefit is not only for chip developers like us but also for OEMs in terms of ease of use and great performance."
Michael Cho
CEO
MagicEyes Digital Co. Ltd.

"Sharp is committed to making it easier for customers to get their products to market faster. Key to our goal is enabling our customers to leverage the potent combination of the leading ARM architectures and the Windows CE .NET operating system. With Sharp's BlueStreak line of ARM core-based products, customers can now tap the large base of developers already intimately familiar with both the ARM architecture and the Microsoft Windows CE .NET development environment."
Doug Jones
Applications Engineering Manager
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas