Chipcon Announces World's First ZigBee Compliant System-on-Chip solutions

Completion of compliance testing gives Chipcon its second and third ZigBee compliant hardware and software platform - the first company in the world to have three ZigBee-compliant platforms

CES, Las Vegas - January 6, 2006 - Chipcon AS, the leading provider of low power, low data rate RF-ICs announced today that ZigBee™ compliance has been granted to the recently released CC2430ZDK Pro ZigBee™ development platform, which consists of two different hardware platforms, both utilizing the CC2430 SoC. The solution uses the Chipcon Z-Stack™, which is also used on Chipcon’s CC2420 transceiver ZigBee™ compliant platform. The CC2430ZDK Pro ZigBee™ development kit enables customers to develop the markets lowest cost and lowest power ZigBee™ certified product.

The compliance means that OEMs developing with Chipcon ZigBee™ development kits are assured that their products are interoperable with other ZigBee™ compliant platforms. This means they will be able to form a single, cohesive ZigBee™ network capable of passing data for all applications on the network. Chipcon is a ZigBee™ Alliance Promoter along with Honeywell, Freescale Semiconductor, Motorola, Samsung, Philips, Mitsubishi, BM and Ember.

"Chipcon has reached another milestone with the CC2430 ZigBee™ development kit compliancy," commented Geir Førre, President and CEO of Chipcon AS. "Being the only ZigBee™ solution provider in the world with three ZigBee™ compliant platforms, firmly entrenches Chipcon’s position as the world’s leading ZigBee™ solution provider.”

The Chipcon CC2430 development kit is in volume production and more than 200 kits have been shipped since the product was launched in September last year. “It proves that the CC2430 has been very well accepted in the market, and having the ZigBee™ compliancy available enables our customers to quickly develop a ZigBee™ compliant, small, low cost and low power end product,” says Graham Martin, Zigbee™ Business Development Director at Chipcon and Vice Chairman of the ZigBee™ Alliance. “Chipcon has yet again proved its leading position in this market by being the first to deliver a single chip ZigBee™ solution.  Whilst our competitors continue only to announce non-available products, Chipcon concentrates on providing our customers with proven world-leading solutions,” he continued.

About the CC2430 System-on-Chip solution

The CC2430 represents Chipcon’s second generation ZigBee™ compliant platform and is a true System-on-Chip (SoC) solution, combining the industry leading radio 2.4 GHz transceiver of the IEEE 802.15.4 compliant CC2420 with an industry proven, compact and efficient 8051 microcontroller.  The CC2430 SoC family consists of three products (CC2430-F32, CC2430-F64 and CC2430-F128). The difference between them is the different flash configurations, 32, 64 and 128 kBytes with each configuration having 8 kBytes of RAM and other powerful supporting features.  The CC2430 is based on Chipcon's SmartRF®03 technology platform in 0.18 micrometer CMOS and is available in a small 7×7 mm 48 pin package.  During receive and transmit modes, the current consumption of the CC2430 is as low as 27 mA and 25 mA, respectively. CC2430’s sleep mode and its short transition time to active mode makes it an ideal solution for applications that require very long battery lifetime.  This configuration can be used for all kinds of ZigBee™ wireless network nodes, including coordinators, routers and end devices.

For development, CC2430 is supported by the Zigbee™ certified CC2430ZDK Pro ZigBee™ development kit and a powerful integrated development environment (IDE). In-circuit interactive debugging is supported on the CC2430ZDK Pro with the industry leading IAR compiler’s IDE, well recognized in the embedded community.  Combined with Chipcon’s ZigBee™ protocol stack, tool-chain and reference designs, the CC2430 represents the market’s leading ZigBee™ solution.

Chipcon will demo a number of end user applications at CES, Las Vegas, from January 5-7. For more information, please visit Chipcon in the Zigbee pavilion at CES Booth#70622-C.

About Chipcon AS: (www.chipcon.com)

Chipcon is a leading international semiconductor company that designs, produces and markets high performance standard radio frequency integrated circuits (RF-ICs) for use in a variety of wireless applications in the 300 to 1000 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Chipcon targets both consumer electronics and home and building automation end markets and has strong positions both in proprietary and standards-based radio technologies.

Chipcon Group ASA is the parent company and holding company that controls the activities of its wholly owned subsidiaries Chipcon AS, Chipcon Inc. and Figure 8 Wireless Inc. Chipcon's products are distributed worldwide and we are represented at 55 locations in 31 countries.

On December 21, 2005, Texas Instruments announced it will acquire Chipcon AS. The acquisition expands TI's short-range wireless portfolio with world-leading RF transceivers from Chipcon and ultimately results in increased benefits of a wider product selection, enhanced technology and increased manufacturing resources. The transaction is expected to be complete end of January 2006.

For more information, visit Chipcon’s Web site at www.chipcon.com, e-mail at pr@chipcon.com or call the company directly at +47 22 95 85 44.

About ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works

The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance is a rapidly growing, non-profit industry consortium of leading semiconductor manufacturers, technology providers, OEMs, and end-users worldwide. Membership is open to all. Additional information can be found at www.zigbee.org.