Atmel Receives Bluetooth Qualification for Its Baseband/Link Controller IC Firmware

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2001--Atmel® Corporation (NASDAQ:ATML, an associated Bluetooth(TM1) member) announced today that its AT76C551 Baseband has received Bluetooth qualification and is included on the Bluetooth Qualified Product List (BQPL) which can be found at the official site of the Bluetooth SIG (www.bluetooth.com). Baseband in wireless communications is the hardware that turns the transmit/receive radio signals into a digital form that can be processed by the host application.

The core Bluetooth qualification testing was performed by 7layers, (http://www.7layers.com), an independent certified Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility (BQTF) that offers leading services for Bluetooth type approval, qualification and testing.

``We are very pleased that our baseband implementation was granted Bluetooth qualification,'' said Richard Bisset, product marketing director of Atmel Corporation. ``The Bluetooth Qualification Program describes all the necessary tests that must be followed for a product in order to ensure its compliance with the Bluetooth standard and entitlement to bear the Bluetooth logo. Our target is to pass all our current and forthcoming Bluetooth products through the certification procedure either directly or through customers using the Atmel reference designs. Atmel's customers will be able to use the complete test reports of the qualified Atmel parts, therefore reducing their time-to-market schedules since they will only have to follow a proven path in order to qualify their own end products.''

The Baseband is the first qualified layer of Atmel's implementation of the Bluetooth specification version 1.1 protocol stack as a Bluetooth Integrated Module. Atmel's Bluetooth certification was achieved with a PCMCIA reference design based on the AT76C551 chip in conjunction with the SIW 1502 RF transceiver from long time partner, Silicon Wave.

The SIW 1502 is also a fully 1.1 certified device and the combination of the Atmel Baseband and Silicon Wave transceiver provides the user with a fully qualified total solution for Bluetooth applications.

Features supported:
    -- Full piconet configuration (1master, 7slaves)
    -- ACL data transfer
    -- SCO data transfer through Host Interface (UART, PCMCIA) or External Voice Codec (PCM interface)
    -- Packets supported: ID, FHS, DM1, DM3, DM5, DH1, DH3, POLL, NULL, HV1, HV2, HV3, DV
    -- Basic access procedures supported: page, page scan, inquiry, inquiry scan, inquiry response, master/slave response
    -- Authentication and Pairing
    -- UART transport (standard)
    -- PCMCIA transport (proprietary)
    -- Firmware upgrade through UART and PCMCIA
    -- Encryption
    -- Master/Slave switch
    -- Hold
    -- Scattered capabilities

About the Bluetooth Qualification Program

The Bluetooth Qualification Program (BQP) is the framework that establishes the qualification rules and procedures that must be followed by a manufacturer in order to demonstrate compliance to the Bluetooth specification. A manufacturer must first become an Early Adopter of the Bluetooth SIG and then send his product to an accredited Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility (BQTF). After the tests have taken place, the test results become a part of the compliance folder. A successful review of the compliance folder by the Bluetooth Qualification Body (BQB) leads to the listing of the Adopter's product as ``Bluetooth Qualified.''

For more information, please visit www.bluetooth.com.

About Atmel

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, bipolar SiGe, and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.

Atmel product and financial information can be retrieved from its Fax-on-Demand service. In North America call 800/292-8635. Internationally from a fax phone, dial 1-(408) 441-0732. Requests may be sent via e-mail to literature@atmel.com or by visiting Atmel's website at www.atmel.com.

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Contact:
     Atmel Corporation, San Jose
     Bob Henderson, 408/451-2855
     Director of Marketing Communications
     bhenderson@atmel.com
     Richard Bisset, 919/462-6540
     Product Marketing Director
     rbisset@atmel.com