Centrality Announces Its Atlas Premiere Partners Alliance and Microsoft MCX Alliance at CES 2004

Centrality's Alliance with Microsoft, Fonix, Horizon, Silicon Motion, Spreadtrum Brings Turn-Key Mobile Device Solutions

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 13 -- Centrality Communications, a leading provider of semiconductor platforms for high-functional mobile devices (PDAs/Smartphones, Handheld GPS Devices and Navigation Systems), today publicly announces the introduction of the Atlas(TM) Premiere Partners Alliance at CES 2004. The alliance will provide Centrality's customers with turn-key solutions for their mobile products based on the Atlas platform.

Centrality's Atlas processor family (Atlas-A and Atlas-M) delivers a complete platform solution that enables its customers to dramatically reduce bill-of-materials cost, realize shorter development cycles, and introduce highly differentiated products. Integrated on the Atlas processor are advanced functions such as GPS, MPEG-4, and Digital camera. These features, paired with turnkey Microsoft Windows CE software and applications support, create true time-to-market wins for our customers. The Centrality development team has worked closely with its Partner Alliance to integrate and optimize key 3rd party applications software on the Atlas

Centrality's objective for the Alliance is to enable its customers to take the Atlas platform and create truly differentiated, low cost products in a shorter timeframe. To realize this objective, Centrality has created an assembly of partners to deliver a unified solution from a hardware, software, and system perspective. Specifically, Centrality and our industry partners are investing in the pre-porting and integration of solutions ranging from Voice Recognition to GPS RF solutions.

In addition to the Partnership Alliance, Centrality also announces that it is joining the MCX Program. The MCX program is limited to 30 key industry partners whom Microsoft has selected to work with to define their strategy in the consumer space. Current participants in the program include companies such as Dell, HP, Nvidia, and Intel. As part of this program, Centrality will participate in many of Microsoft's key events including: CES, Microsoft Holiday Experience, as well as the MCX Congress.

"Centrality's silicon and software innovation along the lines of GPS, multimedia and communications will enable manufacturers to create compelling, cost-effective products for the mobile consumer segment. We expect that Centrality will undoubtedly expand Microsoft's consumer experience initiatives," stated Kate Carcelen, product manager in the Consumer Experience Group at Microsoft Corp.

Operating System

Microsoft Corporation (Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Windows CE for Automotive, Microsoft Media Groups)

Centrality is collaborating with Microsoft to provide operating systems and key applications solutions. Specifically, Microsoft has teamed with Centrality to optimize its drivers and the OS kernel for Windows CE 4.2 (fully certified), Windows Mobile (for Pocket PCs and Smartphones), and Windows CE for Automotive operating systems. By providing a high level of support and guidance, Microsoft has enabled Centrality to significantly accelerate its development schedule and software performance. The Atlas offers complete BSPs and a full suite of drivers for each Windows CE-based OS.

"Centrality's feature extensions such as GPS, Digital Camera, and MPEG-4 are a clear illustration of the extensibility of the Windows CE .NET operating system for manufacturers building next -generation devices," Todd Brix, Group Product Manager, Embedded Devices Group, Microsoft Corp. "'In addition, Centrality's BSP for Windows CE.NET strengthens the reliability of the Atlas platform."

Microsoft has also worked very closely with Centrality's media group to optimize its Windows Media application on the Atlas DSP resulting in substantial savings in both power consumption and MIPS utilization.

Software/Applications

As part of its Partnership Alliance, Centrality announced that it has signed on several voice recognition firms including Fonix Corporation. These companies represent the leading innovators in the voice recognition and text- to-speech space. Their products can be found in Tier-1 OEMs such as Microsoft, Delphi, ATX Technologies, and Motorola.

"Today's manufacturers face cost, performance, and flexibility issues when developing mobile products," said Lynn Shepherd, VP Product Development for Fonix Corporation. "Uniting Centrality's Atlas platform with Fonix's speech interface and 'ready to deploy' speech application components, which include phone, email, navigation and multi-media, enables developers to create next- generation mobile products that are cost-effective, efficient and user friendly."

In order to provide the best end user navigation experience on the Centrality platform, Centrality has partnered with several leading navigation application providers including Horizon Navigation and Powerloc Technologies. These companies represent the best-of-breed solutions for the automotive and handheld market segments.

For example, Horizon's team has been a leading developer of navigation technology for 14 years and holds more than 90 navigation-related patents. Their installed base includes thousands of Ford, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles in Europe and North America, in addition to aftermarket navigation systems sold through Visteon, Rosen Entertainment and other leading suppliers. Horizon was also selected by Cobra Electronics to develop its new portable navigation product line, slated for launch in 2004. Horizon has optimized its NavMate(R) application on the Atlas development environment. Due to this effort, customers will be able to realize better GPS and navigation application performance with minimal integration investment.

"Working with Centrality has enabled our two companies to create a joint solution that allows our customers to develop market leading products that provide exceptional performance and value", stated Laura White, President & CEO of Horizon Navigation. "Horizon's proprietary map database compiler and extensive language support enable us to deliver customized navigation solutions to Centrality hardware partners around the globe."

Hardware

From a hardware perspective, Centrality goal was to bring together companies from the GPS RF, multi-media, and communications areas to create an optimized solution from a cost, performance, and compatibility standpoint.

In order ensure the best possible GPS performance, Centrality has been collaborating with several of the leading GPS RF providers including NEC/CEL, Numerix, and SiGE. Each partner company has devoted considerable time and effort to ensure that customers are able to find a complete solution that meets their performance, cost, and reliability needs. For example, NEC/CEL has invested key development resources in creating customized GPS RF hardware to interface with the Atlas platform.

"Combining our GPS RF solution with the highly integrated Centrality application processor creates a complete GPS system solution for our customers. We have sold over 5 million GPS RF IC's to date and are grateful to companies such as Centrality who will leverage our RF expertise to provide full turn-key GPS solutions", explained Marc Sheade, Director of the RF Strategic Business Unit for CEL.

Due to the demand for low cost GPS navigation solutions, Centrality has worked with Silicon Motion to develop a joint graphics & multimedia solution to address this market need. Using a joint Centrality Atlas plus Silicon Motion's SM501 solution, customers are currently realizing more than $100 bill-of-materials cost savings.

"Pairing the SM501 and Atlas processors together is a natural fit for any manufacturer who wants to achieve lowest possible system cost without sacrificing product excellence," stated Julia Chen, Director of Product Marketing for Silicon Motion.

Centrality has also partnered with Spreadtrum Communications Inc., a leading provider of baseband chipsets (GSM/GPRS) for the China market. Their unique chipset architecture enables them to offer a fully FTA certified communication platform with superior performance, low power consumption and competitive pricing.

"By combining our baseband chipset with Centrality's Atlas solution in a reference solution, we are able to offer our customers unprecedented value and performance as well as full local support. We are essentially enabling our customers to compete in broad markets," stated John Zhang, EVP of Spreadtrum Communications.

Joining the Premiere Alliance

Centrality is continually expanding the Alliance to provide customers with the best possible product solution. To inquire about joining the partnership, please contact partners@centralitycomm.com.

About Centrality

Centrality Communications is a leading provider of semiconductor platforms for high-functional mobile devices including GPS Handhelds, PDA/Smartphones, and Automotive Navigations Systems. The company's innovation is based on decades of research and development experience from the industry's leading chip architects and entrepreneurs. Leveraging this innovation, Centrality provides the most highly integrated solutions at the lowest cost point.

   Corporate/Press Contact:
   Conlan Ma
   Phone 408 982 1818
   info@centralitycomm.com

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