National Semiconductor and Praim Continue to Drive Growth of Thin-Client Market in Italy

National's Geode Technology on display at the PRAIM TC FORUM in Milan

Santa Clara, CA -- 2/27/2001 -- National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM), the technology leader for the information appliance market, today announced that Praim, the number one thin client company in Italy, has chosen National Semiconductor's Geode™ processor technology to be incorporated into the company's new PRIMO? thin clients. The announcement was made at Praim's TC Forum, held in Milan/Italy on February 27, where National participated as a Gold Sponsor.

"We highly appreciate the opportunity to present our Geode technology at the Praim TC Forum here in Italy", said Georges Batars, Marketing Director Information Appliance and Networks at National Semiconductor in Europe. "This allows us to share our own success story on thin client deployment with organizations looking for the best return on their IT investments. Our Geode thin client solution improves companies' internal computing structure by offering quality computing at an overall lower cost and smaller form factor. Together with Praim, we are committed to bringing the advantages of thin client computing to enterprises and organizations and further develop the thin client market in Italy."

"The cooperation with National Semiconductor will allow Praim to provide faster and more reliable thin clients which offer the user low power consumption and the attractive price points that are so critical in this rapidly growing market", said Domenico Martinetto, Managing Director of Praim. "The agreement is in line with Praim's strategy, as the company - according to the "Open NetComputing" initiative - is partnering with key technology partners in the hardware and software areas of the server market."

The PRIMO thin client based on National's Geode processor is designed specifically for companies that need an end-to-end Microsoft solution for their multi-user Windows NT environment. Through the built-in support for Microsoft™ Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Citrix™ ICA client interfaces, PRIMO provides multi-session and multi-protocol access to Microsoft Windows NT™ 4.0 Terminal Server Edition, Windows™ 2000 Server, Windows™ 2000 Advanced Server, Citrix MetaFrame™ 1.8/1.7V and Citrix™ enhancements to Microsoft Windows NT™ Server 4.0 TSE or Windows™ 2000.

Applications hosted on today's powerful application servers are accessed by PRIMO users as needed rather than being maintained and managed on a multitude of individual desktop PCs. For Information Technology managers, this thin-client/server approach offers the best performance at the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO), a simpler and more cost-effective software administration, and the ability to control and manage applications and user files, via a centralized server resource. For users, it offers immediate access to new applications, application upgrades and server resources as they are deployed.

"We are glad to cooperate with the Thin Client market leader in Italy", said Cyrille Claustres, Marketing Manager Information Appliance of National Semiconductor in Europe. "I am convinced that our Geode thin client-on-a-chip solution will enable Praim to reinforce its leadership position expanding thin client computing to new markets and emerging applications."

National dominates the thin client technology market with nearly 80 percent of the market share. IDC, a leading analyst firm, predicts the thin client market will exceed 9.5 million units by 2004. The largest percentage of those shipments will be Web-based terminals.

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor is the premier analog company driving the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of-the-art digital technology, the company is focused on the fast growing markets for wireless handsets; information appliances; information infrastructure; and display, imaging and human interface technologies. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $2.1 billion for its last fiscal year and has about 10,500 employees worldwide.