Cogency and Lugh Networks Develop Powerline Home Networking Audio Solution

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January 7, 2002 -- Cogency Semiconductor Inc., a leading provider of high-performance semiconductors for the fast-growing home networking market, today announced that it is partnering with Lugh Networks, Inc., who has designed and developed the first powerline-based network audio processing evaluation board. "Cogency is delighted to be working with Lugh Networks because of its advanced engineering expertise in audio, video and data networking designs," said Ron Glibbery, CEO and President, Cogency Semiconductor. "We were particularly impressed with Lugh's development process and ability to produce a design in a very compressed time period."

Lugh's audio solution integrates Cogency's PiranhaT HomePlug 1.0 chipset with Texas Instruments' (TI) network audio processing evaluation board to enable an audio platform. This audio processing evaluation board is expected to be available to OEMs in Q2 2002 to produce networked consumer audio products. These products will provide consumers with the ability to listen to stored music or music streamed from the Internet on a powerline-enabled device. Creating a home audio distribution network will be as simple as plugging in the audio consumer device.

"We selected the Cogency Piranha HomePlug 1.0 chipset because it offered the best combination of value and performance for TI's needs," said Clay Epstein, President, Lugh Networks, Inc. "Powerline is the most suitable solution for home networking applications because of its flexibility and ease of use."

Charlie Gonsalves, Business Development Manager of Texas Instruments' Imaging and Audio Group added: "While this audio solution is the first to incorporate Cogency's powerline technology, we believe that audio is the start of a wave of powerline-enabled consumer products to hit the market."

International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
The new powerline-based network audio processing evaluation boards will be on display at the International CES in Las Vegas January 8 to 11, 2002 in the Texas Instruments hospitality suite by appointment only.

Pricing and availability of the Piranha chipset
The Piranha chipset sampled in December. Volume production is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of calendar year 2002. The Piranha chipset Evaluation Kit consists of two evaluation boards, Microsoft Windows drivers, a suite of software support tools and is priced at US $5,000. The HomePlug-compliant chipset is priced at US $23.00 in quantities of 25,000 units.

About Cogency Semiconductor Inc.
Cogency designs and markets high-performance semiconductors for the home networking market. Using its extensive expertise in OFDM-based systems and IC design, Cogency is a leading supplier of semiconductor products based on the HomePlug Powerline Alliance 1.0 specification for powerline home networking. Working closely with industry partners and customers, Cogency's products enable highly integrated and cost-effective system designs. Founded in 1997, Cogency is a privately- held company with offices in Newport Beach, California, Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario. For more information on the company, please visit www.cogency.com.

About Lugh Networks, Inc.
Lugh Networks, Inc., is a design and development firm that specializes in creating home powerline networking solutions. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Lugh Networks provides its expertise to OEM manufacturers in the consumer electronics and personal computer segments seeking to create powerline networking devices that can distribute music, movies and data content throughout the home. The company's solutions enable consumers to set up multimedia audio, video and data networks using existing electrical outlets. More information on the company and its services is available at www.lughnetworks.com or by calling 801-293-3115.

SOURCE Cogency Semiconductor Inc.