Sonics extends license to Broadcom for Sonics Micronetwork interconnect IP for faster SoC design

Mountain View, CA , March 25, 2002 - Sonics, Inc. today announced a new multiyear agreement that provides Broadcom Corporation's Home Networking Business Unit (Nasdaq: BRCM) with continued access to Sonics' SiliconBackplane(TM) MicroNetwork for system-on-chip (SOC) designs. Under the previous one-year agreement, Broadcom(R) successfully completed five, multi-million gate SOCs using the MicroNetwork intellectual property (IP) core. Broadcom plans to continue the use of Sonics MicroNetworks in some of its complex SOCs to simplify the integration and reuse of IP cores and to optimize on-chip communication. Financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

"Broadcom has proven the design reuse and time-to-market advantages of using MicroNetworks by developing several high-performance SOCs," said Grant Pierce, president and CEO of Sonics. "We feel that MicroNetworks will continue to gain importance as an interconnect standard at Broadcom as more of its SOC designers are exposed to the benefits of Sonics' smart interconnect approach."

"MicroNetworks allow us to reduce the time to complete our SOCs," said Dr. Ed Frank, senior engineering director at Broadcom. "Sonics' MicroNetworks provide a foundation for re-usable SOC platforms and give us the configurable interconnect technology we need to manage complex SOC designs. We anticipate using Sonics in future SOC design projects at Broadcom."

About Sonics, Inc.
Sonics, Inc., the premier developer of MicroNetworks for "plug and play" integration of semiconductor intellectual property (IP) cores into system-on-chip (SOC) designs, is a privately held company in Mountain View, California. A Sonics MicroNetwork manages all communications between SOC subsystems, guarantees end-to-end performance, and ensures real-time quality of service. MicroNetwork technology enables flexible, platform-based SOC design through a robust development environment that uses an open standard core interface, the Open Core Protocol (OCP). Major semiconductor and systems companies have adopted Sonics' technology for SOC applications in the communications, networking and multimedia markets. For more information, see http://www.sonicsinc.com

Sonics, Inc., Mountain View
Ed Smith, 650/938-2500 ext. 126
edsmith@sonicsinc.com
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