Agere Systems Provides Custom ICs to Developer of Digital Media for Portable, Consumer Electronics Products

Company Signs Five-Year Supply Agreement With DataPlay(TM), Inc.

ALLENTOWN, Pa., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR.A - news), a leading provider of integrated circuits for hard-disk drive applications, today announced that it is supplying custom integrated circuits (IC) to DataPlay, a developer of a miniature digital media solution that can be incorporated into portable consumer electronics devices such as music players, digital cameras, e-books and PDAs. Agere has signed a five-year supply agreement with DataPlay.

The DataPlay solution includes three primary offerings: DataPlay digital media, the DataPlay micro-optical engine and ContentKey(TM), a content distribution, marketing and e-commerce tool. One DataPlay digital media has the capacity to store up to 500 MB of universal content, including music, images, documents, software, games, video and more. This allows storage of over eleven hours of high quality MP3 music, or the equivalent of five complete pre-recorded albums of CD-quality music, hundreds of high-resolution images or dozens of e-books. DataPlay micro-optical engines, which are incorporated in consumer electronics devices, include a custom-designed transimpedance amplifier and laser diode driver from Agere.

"Whether it's for emerging consumer applications like DataPlay's micro-optical engines or the solutions we provide to traditional hard-disk drive applications, our customers rely on us to deliver devices designed to meet the unique requirements for their products and the universal need for higher storage capacity at a reasonable price," said Joe O'Hare, vice president of Storage ICs at Agere. "This agreement demonstrates our intense focus on technology, flexibility and value as we continue to expand our storage IC leadership from the desktop to the consumer electronics marketplace."

"Agere's technological strength and execution has strengthened our ability to meet the capacity and power requirements for a broad and growing range of consumer electronics devices that will incorporate DataPlay," said Dan Zaharris, vice president of Electrical Engineering at DataPlay. Agere's laser diode driver enables DataPlay's micro-optical engine to accurately read and write data on a DataPlay digital media by supplying an adjustable current that varies according to whether the drive is operating in the read or write mode.

Agere's transimpedance amplifier enhances drive performance by strengthening signals sent from the optical unit as it works to retrieve stored information. The highly integrated amplifier brings flexibility to the drive with six discrete inputs that allow signals to be amplified, buffered and output as voltages. Both the transimpedance amplifier and laser diode driver include a chip-controlled, low-power stand-by mode that minimizes power consumption, which is a key factor in portable, battery-operated devices such as DataPlay-enabled consumer electronics products.

Along with custom storage chips, Agere's storage IC portfolio is comprised of read channels, preamplifiers, system-on-a-chip solutions, hard-disk drive controllers and motor controllers. Agere's IC solutions deliver the performance required to meet the growing demands for storage capacity in applications ranging from traditional hard-disk drives for desktop PCs, laptops and servers, as well as for a burgeoning array of consumer products such as game consoles, personal video recorders, digital cameras, and MP3 players.

About Dataplay, Inc.

DataPlay, Inc. was incorporated in November 1998 to develop a Web-enabled digital content recording and distribution media for portable Internet appliances and hand-held consumer entertainment devices. Headquartered in Boulder, Colo., the Company employs more than 240 people in the United States, Singapore and Japan. Visit DataPlay on the Internet at www.dataplay.com.

About Agere Systems

Agere Systems is the world's No.1 provider of components for communications applications with leadership in optical components and integrated circuits. This dual capability uniquely positions Agere to deliver integrated solutions that form the building blocks for advanced wired, wireless, and optical communications networks. Agere also designs and manufactures a wide range of semiconductor solutions for communications- related devices used by consumers such as cellular phones, modems, and hard disk drives for personal computers and workstations. In addition, the company supplies complete wireless computer networking solutions through the ORiNOCO(TM) product line. More information about Agere Systems is available from its Web site at http://www.agere.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on information available to Agere as of the date hereof. Agere's actual results could differ materially from the results stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, completion of the distribution of Agere stock by Lucent Technologies, customer demand for our products and services, control of costs and expenses, timely completion of employment reductions and other restructuring and consolidation activities, price and product competition, keeping pace with technological change, dependence on new product development, reliance on major customers and suppliers, availability of manufacturing capacity, components and materials, general industry and market conditions and general domestic and international economic conditions including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations. For a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2001, and report on Form 10-Q for the period ending December 31, 2001. Agere disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.