Infineon and Metalink Demonstrate Industry's First Interoperable Ethernet Over Standard QAM-Based VDSL Chipsets at ITU Telecom Asia and Establish Availability of True Multi-Vendor VDSL Solutions

YAKUM, Israel and MUNICH, Germany, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Metalink Ltd. (Nasdaq: MTLK), a leader in providing high-performance broadband access chip sets, and Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX), a leading provider of integrated circuits (ICs) for advanced communications systems today announced that interoperability demonstrations of their respective standards-based Ethernet over Very-high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (EoVDSL) chipsets will be held at ITU-Telecom Asia 2002, December 2-7, Hong-Kong, China.

Demonstrations will be held on Infineon's booth, Hall 2, #2242, and Metalink's booth, Hall 2, #2120.

EoVDSL provides the key solution for next generation Ethernet based broadband access over copper. A new generation of video, data and voice services for business and residential users are made possible with EoVDSL technology. Reaching speeds of 10-52 Mbps and more over a single telephone line it brings a new class of broadband to the last mile.

"Amazingly enough, the average traffic in today's optical networks is less than 33% of the potential capacity. The main reason for this is bottlenecks in the last mile -- a problem that is easily solved by deploying VDSL," said Christian Wolff, Vice President of Infineon's Wireline Communications Business Group and General Manager of the Access Business Unit. "Scalability, smooth migration from ATM to IP-based broadband solutions and fast Return On Investment (ROI) contribute to VDSL's fast growing popularity. But the key to VDSL growth is its ability to carry symmetric very high bit-rates and support advanced IP-based services, namely Ethernet," added Wolff.

"Featuring the industry's first interoperable Ethernet over QAM-VDSL solutions reinforces Infineon and Metalink's commitments, to address the demand to accelerate mass-deployment of Ethernet broadband access, especially in rapidly evolving markets such as China, Korea and Japan," said Tzvi Shukhman Chairman and CEO of Metalink. "One of the key requirements of telecom service providers to develop a widely deployed mass-market consists in multi-vendor availability and true inter-operability. QAM VDSL has been the only VDSL technology to address and achieve these important requirements," Mr. Shukhman concluded.

Infineon and Metalink's Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) VDSL chipsets are fully compliant with ETSI, ANSI (plan 997, plan 998) and the expanded ITU VDSL standards requirements. QAM-VDSL is a robust technology featuring high immunity to impulse and outside noise interference. It coexists with legacy voice, ISDN, and all other legacy DSL technologies, including ADSL. This is significantly important in highly evolved broadband markets such as those in China, Korea and Japan where many technologies share the same copper infrastructure. Due to its reliability it is also highly suitable for real-time applications such as voice, interactive gaming and video.

About Metalink

Metalink, a fabless semiconductor company, develops and markets high performance broadband access chip sets used by telecommunications and networking equipment makers. Metalink's silicon solutions enable cost effective, very high-speed delivery of next generation broadband access over copper infrastructure.

Metalink's products address one of the major challenges for cost-effective completion of an end-to-end "All-IP" Ethernet based access network by enabling true broadband Ethernet speeds over the existing infrastructure. VDSL, the most advanced and affordable xDSL technology, maximizes the use of available copper capacity and provides scalable symmetric and asymmetric "Ethernet grade" rates under all deployment scenarios in private and public networks. Using the QAM line-code, Metalink's VDSL technology is robust and cost- effective and ready for mass deployment.

Metalink is also a leader in the North American and International T1/E1 over Symmetric DSL transport market. Metalink's HDSL2, HDSL4 and SHDSL solutions allow service providers to reduce the deployment costs for T1/E1 systems by reducing the need for costly repeaters used in older HDSL and T1/E1 systems.

The Company's top-level algorithmic designers, along with its leadership in standards bodies worldwide, are establishing Metalink as a leader in the field of broadband access.

Further information is available at www.metalinkDSL.com.

Metalink's headquarters are located at Yakum Business Park, Yakum, 60972 Israel, Tel: 972-9-9605555, Fax: 972-9-9605544. Metalink's U.S. Subsidiary is located at 105 Lake Forest Way, Folsom, CA 95630 Tel: 916/355-1580, Fax: 916/355-1585.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for the automotive and industrial sectors, for applications in the wired communications markets, secure mobile solutions as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In fiscal year 2002 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 5.21 billion with about 30,400 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking" information within the meaning of the United States securities laws that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are set forth from time to time in Metalink's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Metalink's Annual Report in Form F-20. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to republish or revise forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrences of unanticipated events. The Company cannot guarantee future results, events, and levels of activity, performance, or achievements. The Company does not assume a duty to update or revise any of the forward- looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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