07.02.2006 – 14:39

Atmel Corporation

Atmel's All-Format DVD System-on-Chip is a Finalist for EDN Magazine's 16th Annual Innovation of the Year Award

San Jose, California (ots/PRNewswire)

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a global leader in the
development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions,
announced today that its AT78C4050 AFDVD(TM) (All-Format DVD)
system-on-chip is a finalist in the ASSP and SoC category of EDN
Magazine's Annual Innovation of the Year Award. Atmel's
highly-integrated chip bridges the gap between the contending Blu-Ray
and HD-DVD blue-laser-based optical disc formats by supporting both.

Atmel's AT78C4050 "All Format DVD" (AFDVD) system-on-chip is the
first DVD front-end device that integrates PRML data channel, DVD
ECC, CD CIRC C3, buffer management, DVD CD 1.7PP, EFM+, EFM Endec and
ATAPI interface logic all on a single chip. The AT78C4050 is Atmel's
high-integration, high-performance single-chip solution for DVD-ROM,
DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-ROM, CD-R/RW and next-generation DVD products
for both formats of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, in addition to being backward
compatible with all existing red laser formats. It integrates all
required components for a DVD and CD rewritable drive as well as DVD
recorder.

The EDN Innovation Awards honor outstanding engineering
professionals and products. The Innovation of the Year awards
recognize unique, state-of-the-art electronics products in several
categories. "Our engineering team in three global locations is proud
to be a finalist in the ASSP and SoC category as this award carries
special meaning since the winners are chosen by a jury of their
peers," said Max Bathaee, Director of Marketing of the Network
Storage Products at Atmel.

"The design complexity and design innovations of the AT78C4050
"AFDVD" will be presented at the upcoming ISSCC conference. The
Conference is the foremost global forum for presentation of advances
in solid-state circuits and Systems-on-a-Chip. Atmel will describe
the chip in detail at the 11:15 am session on February 7th,"
concluded Max Bathaee.

The AT78C4050 for blue laser DVDs can implement speeds of up to 8x
making it an ideal system-on-chip for use in the next generation of
DVD products which use the blue-laser-based technology.

    Footnote
    AFDVD = All Format DVD
    ASSP = (Application-Specific Standard Product)
    SoC = System-on-Chip
    PRML = Partial Response Maximum likelyhood
    ECC = Error correction code
    CD = Compact Disc
    DVD = Digital Versatile Disc
    CIRC = Cross Interleaved Reed-Solomon Code
    1.7PP = 1.7 Parity preserve/Prohibit Repeated Minimum Transition Run
            length
    EFM+ = Eight to Fourteen Modulation Plus
    EFM = Eight to Fourteen Modulation
    ATAPI = Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface
    DVD-ROM = Digital Versatile Disc Read-Only Memory
    DVD-R/RW = Digital Versatile Disc Minus Recordable/Re-Writable
    DVD+R/RW = Digital Versatile Disc Plus Recordable/Re-Writable
    CD-ROM = Compact Disc Read-Only Memory
    CD-R/RW = Compact Disc Recordable/Re-Writable
    HD-DVD = High Definition Digital Versatile Disc

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory
and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's
broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is
able to provide the electronics industry with complete system
solutions. Focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications,
computing and automotive markets, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere
You Are(R).

NOTE: Atmel(R), logo and combinations thereof, Everywhere You
Are(R) and others, are registered trademarks, AFDVD(TM) and others
are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms
and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:

Atmel's Data Storage product information may be retrieved at
http://www.atmel.com/products/DataS/ .

For further information on AT78C4050, go to
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/devices.asp?family_id=677 .

Press Contacts:
    Max Bathaee, Director of Marketing for Network Storage Products
    Phone: +1-408-487-2938, Email:  maxb@atmel.com
    Helen Perlegos, Public Relations -- USA and Asia Pacific Rim,
    Phone: +1-408-487-2963, Email:  hperlegos@atmel.com
    Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager -- Europe
    Phone: +33-1-30-60-70-68, Fax: +49-71-31-67-24-23
    Email:  veronique.sablereau@atmel.com

Web site: http://www.atmel.com

Contact:

Max Bathaee, Director of Marketing for Network Storage Products,
+1-408-487-2938, or maxb@atmel.com, or USA and Asia Pacific Rim,
Helen Perlegos, +1-408-487-2963, or hperlegos@atmel.com, or Europe,
Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager,
+33-1-30-60-70-68, or fax, + 49-71-31-67-24-23, or
veronique.sablereau@atmel.com, all of Atmel