Voice Echo Cancellation (VEC) Chips from Zarlink Post Industry Records for Density, Performance, Price

- New high-quality VEC chips deliver eight times the capacity of competing devices for US$1 per channel - the industry"s lowest price per channel - Zarlink"s power-saving VECs reduce power consumption by more than 80%

OTTAWA, CANADA, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Zarlink Semiconductor (NYSE/TSE:ZL) today announced immediate availability of a family of voice echo cancellation devices that sets new records for channel density, performance, and price.

Zarlink"s 288-channel ZL(TM)50212 and the 256-channel ZL50211 are the highest-capacity, lowest-power and most cost-effective VEC chips in the industry. The devices process voice channels for as low as US$1 per channel - about 50% less than other silicon devices. Today Zarlink also announced the ZL50232, a low-power, 32-channel VEC chip that delivers best-in-class voice quality at low cost.

Demand for high-capacity, inexpensive and power-efficient VECs is growing as more voice traffic travels over multi-service, packet- and cell-based networks. Zarlink"s VECs offer significant price, power, size and QoS (quality of service) benefits in VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) carrier-class gateways, VoFR (voice over frame relay), VoA (voice over asynchronous transfer mode), and VoDSL (voice over digital subscriber line) access equipment, T1/E1 echo cancellation pools, and wireless base stations.

Zarlink"s VECs have already passed rigorous performance and qualification tests in the labs of leading international service providers, including the AT&T Voice Quality Assessment Lab. The devices are fully compliant with the ITU-T"s (International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunications) G.168 (2000) standard for digital echo cancellers and G.164/165 standards for fax/modem transmissions.

"Zarlink"s newest VEC chips meet customer demand for high-density echo cancellation devices that cost-effectively deliver carrier-class voice quality," said Goutam Mukherjee, product manager, Zarlink Semiconductor. "Our off-the-shelf devices are faster for equipment manufacturers to implement than designs based on DSPs (digital signal processors). They are also smaller and less expensive than VEC modules."

Industry"s highest-density, lowest-priced VECs

VEC devices from other vendors cancel echoes in up to only 32 channels - less than 15% the capacity delivered by Zarlink"s 288-channel ZL50212 and 256- channel ZL50211. Moreover, Zarlink"s VECs offer dramatic cost advantages, canceling echoes for less than half the per-channel price of competing chips. The two high-density devices, together with Zarlink"s 128-channel MT93L04 VEC, process a full DS3 (Digital Signal 3) interface operating at 44.7 Mb/s (megabits per second). In contrast, at least 21 VECs from other vendors are required to handle a DS3 link.

The 32-channel ZL50232 is a low-cost, high-performance VEC for lower- density voice processing requirements in equipment such as PBXs (private branch exchanges), wireless base stations, and IVR (interactive voice response) systems. The ZL50232 can be flexibly configured to offer 32 channels of echo cancellation at 64 ms (milliseconds), 16 channels at 128 ms, or other combinations of channel density and echo delay.

Superior voice quality

Zarlink"s new VEC chips deliver excellent-sounding voice connections with no annoying echoes, clicks, or hisses. These high-quality connections are achieved, in part, by patented NLP (non-linear processing) software. The NLP software"s algorithm adds a unique type of sound called "comfort noise" to the line. Comfort noise is adjusted to match caller background noise, so that the line does not click or sound "dead" when echoes are cancelled.

Unmatched power efficiency

Zarlink"s new chips meet customer requirements for power-efficient echo cancellers. All three VECs consume only 4.68 mW (milliwatts) per channel, almost three times less than the per-channel consumption of VEC modules, and at least six times - or 80% - less than other vendors" VEC devices.

Availability, packaging, and pricing

Zarlink"s new VECs are now in production. The 288-channel ZL50212 and 256- channel ZL50211 are offered in 535-pin BGA (ball grid array) packages. The 32- channel ZL50232 is available in 100-pin LQFP (low-profile quad flat pack) or 208-pin LBGA (low-pitch BGA) packages. In 10k quantities, the ZL50212 is priced at US$286.49, the ZL50211 at US$254.66, and the ZL50232 at US$48.44. For more information please visit http://products.zarlink.com/profiles/ZL50212, http://products.zarlink.com/profiles/ZL50211 and http://products.zarlink.com/profiles/ZL50232.

About Zarlink Semiconductor

Zarlink employs its formidable analog, digital and mixed-signal capabilities to offer the most compelling products for wired, wireless and optical connectivity markets and ultra low-power medical applications. For more information, visit www.zarlink.com.

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, among others, the risks discussed in documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors are encouraged to consider the risks detailed in those filings.

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