Cirrus Logic First in Industry to Demonstrate Multiple High-Quality Video Streams Over Wireless Home Networks

January 11, 2002

Synergy Between Recent Acquisitions Positions Cirrus as the Leader in Wireless Home Entertainment

Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq:CRUS) today reinforced its leadership position in wireless home entertainment with the announcement of the Wireless Spigot(tm) reference design -- a manufacturing platform enabling the rapid development of inexpensive consumer devices that support multiple, high-quality video streams on wireless home networks.

Cirrus Logic pioneered the home media center, a next-generation personal video recorder (PVR) that incorporates streaming and networking functionality to let families enjoy time-shifting and other PVR benefits on any television in the home. The Wireless Spigot receives networked content from the home media center and translates it back into an analog signal so that it can be enjoyed on an ordinary television. Cirrus Logic's Whitecap(tm)2 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless LAN technology provides quality of service (QoS) control on the wireless network, so that high-quality video can be enjoyed on multiple televisions simultaneously wherever they are located in the home.

"The PVR adds to the enjoyment of home entertainment by significantly enhancing the control consumers have over their viewing experience," said Michael Canning, vice president and general manager of Cirrus Logic's Video Recording Division. "Our new reference design wirelessly extends the benefits of the PVR to every television set in the home and allows all members of the household to select the program of their choice. These are the kinds of compelling capabilities that will accelerate the adoption cycle of the next generation PVR."

Spigot supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standards to allow consumers to play the widest possible selection of media on their televisions, including MPEG-4 files that have been downloaded over broadband connections. Using an infrared controller and the user-friendly on-screen menu, consumers can conveniently communicate from any location on their network with a central home media server to select the content they want to watch.

The Whitecap2 technology incorporated into the Wireless Spigot is Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b) certified and offers unique home-oriented benefits, including quality of service (QoS) management, built-in resistance from prevalent household interferers such as microwave ovens and cordless telephones, and superior range for maximum coverage throughout the household. It also offers consumers ease-of-use features such as channel agility, which allows wireless products to automatically change channels when there is competition from other household appliances.

Pricing and Availability

The Cirrus Logic Spigot reference design is included at no charge with the Maestro(tm) Home Media Center reference design, which acts as the server on the home network. The complete Maestro package of designs for the Home Media Center and Spigot is available now for a one-time charge of $25,000 and includes a board, software, schematics, Gerber files, and a bill of materials. It is available with both Ethernet and wireless connectivity.


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