Alchemy Brings Microsoft Windows CE .NET To Customers With Second Fully Functional Development Board

Pb1500 Reduces Development Time as Microsoft Windows CE .NET Hits Embedded Market

AUSTIN, TX -- 1/7/2002 -- Alchemy Semiconductor, Inc.™, an Austin-based fabless semiconductor company, announced that its Pb1500 development board running at 500MHz has been optimized for Microsoft Windows CE .NET, which is being officially launched this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The componentized structure of Windows CE .NET, combined with the design methodology of the Alchemy processor family, allowed Alchemy to bring up the powerful operating system in less then two days. The ability to easily upgrade operating systems is significant, as it expedites time to market for device makers targeting emerging and rapidly growing markets.

Windows CE .NET is a robust real-time operating system for building and powering the next generation of smart mobile devices that has been highly anticipated for a rapidly growing embedded market, where time-to-market is being recognized as one of the most critical assets customers gain from their chipmaker development packages. Addressing that concern, the Pb1500 is a highly versatile system that serves multiple purposes: chip evaluation, software development and to provide an example of hardware systems design using the highly integrated Alchemy Au1500. Targeted for the rapidly expanding range of communications client devices, networking applications and communications infrastructure markets, the Au1500 integrates a 66 MHz PCI 2.2 controller and is optimized for thin client devices and gateways; and for network-oriented embedded and streaming media applications. The performance and typical power scalability is 500 MHz at 1.2W range.

Jim Moore, Alchemy's President and CEO, emphasized the importance of a performance-ready and power-saving solution for new and upcoming embedded designs, based on existing standards.

"Portable devices with historically power-hungry applications such as streaming media and wireless connectivity are current concepts ready to come to market with the right combination of design, power, performance and real-time operating functions," said Moore. "We believe Windows CE .NET is going to be the operating system for the devices that need to leap quickly from the design board with next-generation capabilities, and have responded by delivering another system-ready development package in the Pb1500."

"Solutions that can help device makers jump-start their development and cut total time to market are more in demand than ever," said Keith White, senior director of the Embedded and Appliance Platforms Group at Microsoft Corp. "The combination of Windows CE .NET and the Alchemy low-power, high-performance and highly integrated silicon solutions will offer OEMs an efficient package to expedite time to market without compromising on desirable applications."

The Pb1500 Development Platform features include:

Memory Devices
Expansion
Debug Assist Features
System Documentation
Software
On-Board Peripherals

Sampling of the Pb1500 development board is now underway, priced at $4000. For more information, contact Alchemy at www.alchemysemi.com or call 512-421-6200. Also, available is BSQUARE's board support package with a suggested retail price of $15,000. For more information, contact BSQUARE sales at sales@bsquare.com or call 888-820-4500. CES starts January 7 and runs through January 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more show information, go to http://www.cesweb.org/

About Alchemy Semiconductor
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1999, Alchemy Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and markets high performance, yet very low power systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) for the Internet Edge Device market. These devices include wireless hand-held enterprise PDAs, information appliances and remote Internet access products. The company's founding team includes world-renown embedded microprocessor architects, led by former DEC Alpha / StrongARM design team members, allowing for a combination of proven design execution and MIPS performance technology to achieve high performance, low power dissipation and system integration in its Internet Edge Processor. Alchemy's headquarters are at 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 222W, Austin, Texas 78757; or go to www.alchemysemi.com.