San Jose, Calif. - February 28, 2000 - Parthus (formerly SSL)
the leading supplier of system-level intellectual property (IP) to the
wireless communications and consumer multimedia markets, today announced
that it has forged a partnership with Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated
Circuits (IIS).

The agreement enables Parthus to license Fraunhofer's MP3 and AAC
Decode and Encode technologies for use with its own Oasis silicon IP
suite, based on the company's proprietary DSP core technology. Parthus can
now provide clients with all the technology necessary to enter the
Internet Audio space without relying on silicon from third-party
vendors.

"By teaming up with Fraunhofer, Parthus can provide a one-stop shop for
wireless Internet appliance manufacturers who previously had to turn to
silicon suppliers for decoding and encoding technology," said Sean
Mitchell, general manager of the Consumer Multimedia Business Unit at
Parthus. "Fraunhofer's MP3 and AAC software solutions, provide our
customers with a complete, reliable solution for building market-leading
wireless Internet appliances and speeding their delivery to market."

Under terms of the agreement, Parthus can sublicense Fraunhofer's
technology for use with its DSP cores, a business model that is unique
among IP suppliers. Fraunhofer's decoding and encoding software can be
integrated with Parthus' high-performance, low-power DSP core technology
to create a complete system-level IP solution for MP3 and AAC decoding and
encoding. End products that will benefit from Parthus' solution include
mobile phones, personal audio players (MP3), automotive and home
entertainment systems and other wireless Internet appliances.

Parthus' fully programmable Oasis platform allows users to upgrade
software in the field to support various standards for Secure Digital
Music Initiative (SDMI)-compliant Internet Audio delivery. Users can
simply download the latest versions of decoder and security software off
the Web as they become available without needing to acquire additional
hardware. Available on 0.18µm technology, the solution is very competitive
with respect to cost and power consumption. Parthus' flexible,
programmable interfaces support a variety of external DACs, FLASH chips
and FLASH Memory Cards.

"We are enthusiastic about working with Parthus to develop an
integrated solution for building Internet Appliances based on the Oasis
platform," said Harald Popp, head of Fraunhofer's Studio Department. "Our
partnership with Parthus will enable us to extend our reach into the
Internet Audio space and drive our decoding and encoding solution as the
de facto standard."

Availability

The OASIS IP suite is available for license today as a complete
solution including the Fraunhofer software. It is available as a "soft
macro" that is independent of process technology and can be ported to the
licensee's process of choice or it can be delivered as a ready-to-go "hard
macro" on UMC's 0.18um CMOS technology. Parthus has a roadmap of IP suite
releases based on this platform, which will be available over the next
year, including integration of Microcontroller, USB, Digital to Analog
Conversion and Digital Headphone Power Amplifiers to achieve a highly
integrated solution for a Portable Music Player on a single chip.

About Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS)

Fraunhofer IIS is the leading research laboratory in the area of audio
coding. For more than ten years, Fraunhofer IIS has actively driven
forward the development of audio compression algorithms. Major parts of
MPEG Layer-3 (MP3), the most popular format on the Internet, as well as
MPEG-2 AAC, the most efficient audio compression algorithm currently
available, have been developed at Fraunhofer IIS. Besides devising new
algorithms, Fraunhofer IIS engineers focus on the effective implementation
of state-of-the-art audio and video coding schemes on PCs, digital signal
processors (DSPs), and integrated circuits.

About ParthusCeva,
Inc.