Agere Systems Ships Its Largest-Ever ASIC To NetContinuum; ASIC Reduces Chip Count From Five To One, Passes Pivotal Testing First Time

ALLENTOWN, Pa., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR.A, AGR.B) today announced that the largest application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) it has ever produced is now shipping to California-based NetContinuum, Inc*. Agere has produced hundreds of ASIC chips throughout its history and ranks second in the world in ASIC sales.

NetContinuum, which co-developed the ASIC with Agere's Santa Clara, Calif.-based design team, has used Agere's advanced ASIC capabilities to build its Continuum Security Processor(TM) (CSP) chip. The groundbreaking CSP, designed to deliver tightly integrated web application security at record speed, will provide the foundation for upcoming NetContinuum products in the exploding web security market.

Working with NetContinuum, Agere squeezed into a single-chip ASIC what previously would have required five or more separate chips. This integration achievement dramatically lowers NetContinuum's silicon and system costs, reduces circuit board chip space consumption, and increases manufacturing reliability and flexibility.

Using Agere's state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip (SoC) ASIC design tools and technologies, the Continuum Security Processor achieved first pass success, meaning no redesign or modification of any kind was needed -- a rare accomplishment in the ASIC industry. This achievement, which makes the chip 100 percent market ready, will allow NetContinuum to deliver its product to market up to six months faster and substantially lower its overall development cost.

Equipped with more than 60 million transistors, the Continuum Security Processor measures about 18.2 millimeters per side. That's about twice as large as a typical ASIC and 20 percent larger than today's largest microprocessors.

The Continuum Security Processor integrates 48 multi-threaded parallel processors, massive memory buffers, distinct function blocks, and a 280 Gigabits per second non-blocking switching fabric, to enable on-chip Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) termination, secure socket layer (SSL) encryption, and attack prevention for web-enabled applications and data.

"NetContinuum chose Agere because we knew it was one of the very few companies that had the right combination of ASIC process technology and system-on-a chip design capabilities to help us build a solution of this complexity," said Peter Roman, vice president of engineering, NetContinuum. "The Continuum Security Processor is the first chip in the industry to combine all of the most critical web security functions in a single integrated processor. Pushing the envelope with a truly groundbreaking ASIC innovation like this requires a partner such as Agere who can step up to the plate and deliver the first time."

While single-function security chips typically require termination of TCP sessions off the processor, the Continuum Security Processor does it all on one die. Integrating specific cryptographic** modules -- true random number generation, asymmetric and symmetric ciphers, key generation and hash functions -- with on-die TCP functions enables the CSP to provide complete in-hardware web security services, because all TCP payload, whether or not encrypted, will be resident in memory.

"The complexity of this ASIC, coupled with the ambitious project schedule, required round-the-clock design work and collocation of the Agere and NetContinuum design teams to meet NetContinuum's product development plans," said Cindy Genther, marketing director for Agere Systems.

Agere Systems is a premier provider of advanced integrated circuit (IC) solutions that access, move and store network information. Agere's IC solutions form the building blocks for a broad range of communications and computing applications. The company is the leader in providing storage solutions for hard disk drives with its read-channel chips, preamplifiers and system-on-a-chip solutions, and the No. 2 provider of Wi-Fi solutions for wireless LAN applications. For network equipment providers, Agere is a leading supplier of ICs for wired communications, network switching and access, and ATM and SONET/SDH solutions. In addition, Agere is the No. 2 supplier of application-specific ICs (ASICs) for communications applications. More information about Agere Systems is available from its Web site at http://www.agere.com.

NetContinuum designs and develops advanced Web application security solutions that defend and protect Web-enabled environments, applications and data. Privately held, NetContinuum is funded by blue-chip venture capital firms and investors, including Menlo Ventures, NIF Ventures/Daiwa Securities, Adams Street Partners, Siemens Venture Capital, MKS Investors and the Invus Group. For more information, please visit http://www.netcontinuum.com or call (408) 240-1600.

• NetContinuum is a registered trademark of NetContinuum, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners.
• Cryptographic: The conversion of data into a secret code for transmission over a public network. Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia (C) 1981 - 2002 The Computer Language Co. Inc., (www.computerlanguage.com).

Agere's Forward-Looking Statements

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 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 June 30, 2002. 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.