BURNABY, B.C., March 1, 2005 – Icron Technologies Corporation (TSX Venture: IT), the developers of ExtremeUSB® today announced its first formal partnership to deliver a Wireless USB product based on the Eleven Engineering Inc.’s XInC wireless processor chipset and Icron’s patented ExtremeUSB protocol.
The Icron/Eleven Engineering solution is focused on supporting Low and Full Speed USB 1.1 devices. It is ideally suited to high performance Input/Output devices such as USB based remote controls, multifunction keyboards, and high end game controllers. It is based on the Eleven Engineering’s XInC Multithreaded processor running Icron’s ExtremeUSB protocol integrated with either a 3 or 5 Mbps 2.4Ghz radio.
This is the first partner announcement under the previously announced Icron Wireless USB Program and product roadmap. The development of this low speed offering will offer the best price performance solution to the market. Icron is currently working with an unnamed customer to integrate this Wireless USB 1.1 solution into a finished product for release later this year.
Icron is also actively working on both an 802.11x based and an UWB (Ultra Wide Band) based solution that supports higher speed USB 2.0.
“Icron believes that our unique approach to the market allows for the most customer flexibility while still supporting the USB-IF mandate of ease of use and compatibility”, commented Robert Eisses, VP Sales and Marketing. “Currently, all other programs for Wireless USB in the market today, either do not support the data rates required for most USB applications or are not true USB 1.1 or 2.0 and require significant changes to the ecosystem to implement them.”
The primary benefit of Icron’s Wireless USB solution is its existing USB-IF support, requiring no additional drivers, host controller changes, or user configurations making it a standard USB “plug and play” solution. Each version is focused at various price/performance points that customers have identified as important.
“Eleven has developed proof-of-concept WUSB (pronounced wuzz-bee) solutions based on our novel XInC wireless processor over the last 18 months, but we ran into severe challenges in supporting multiple device types. The partnership with Icron is a natural fit as Icron’s ExtremeUSB technology is very mature and fits perfectly with our XInC hardware platform to create an elegant and powerful WUSB module”, commented John Sobota, CEO of Eleven Engineering.
About Eleven Engineering Inc. www.elevenengineering.com
Eleven Engineering Incorporated is a supplier of innovative wireless processors and platforms. Unlike conventional microprocessors, Eleven’s XInC wireless processors are built from the ground up specifically for use in wireless products, making XInC much more efficient than conventional serial processors in size, cost, power consumption and time–to–market. Eleven also licenses the XInC core to other chip makers for incorporation into their products. Eleven combines XInC with software written by Eleven’s software R&D group, and with radio frequency transceiver chips from partner firms into bundles called Platforms. Eleven’s Platforms make it fast and easy for customers to incorporate short–haul wireless capability into their products — in other words to “Make it Wireless.” Eleven has a large patent portfolio in the wireless and processor spaces. Eleven was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered at 10150 — 100 St., Suite 900, Edmonton, Canada, T5J 0P6. Internet: www.ElevenEngineering.com.
About Icron Technologies Corp www.icron.com
Icron Technologies Corporation is a leading provider of high-performance digital connectivity technologies for the computer marketplace. Icron’s patented ExtremeUSB® technology is compliant with USB Implementers Forum requirements and touches several large worldwide markets from industrial automation to medical devices, aerospace, KVM and computer networking. The company provides branded and private-label packaged products, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) modules, developer kits, engineering and development services and technology licenses for both wired and wireless customers.
Icron is a publicly traded corporation and trades under the symbol “IT” on the TSX Venture Exchange. For information on the company and its products, please visit www.icron.com and for detailed financial information visit www.sedar.com. The Toronto Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Except for statements of historical fact, all statements in this news release — including, without limitation, statements regarding financial estimates and future plans and objectives of Icron — are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
2005 Icron Technologies Corporation. ExtremeUSB®, USB Ranger™ are trademarks of Icron Technologies Corporation.
XInC and WUSB are trademarks of Eleven Engineering Incorporated.
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Contact Information
| Icron Technologies Corporation | |
| Suresh Singh, President & CEO suresh.singh@icron.com |
Phone: 604-638-3929 Fax: 604-638-3930 |
| The Howard Group | |
| David Gordon, Investor Relations for Icron david@howardgroupinc.com |
Phone: 403-221-0915 Fax: 403-237-8387 |
| Eleven Engineering | |
| John Sobota, CEO sobota@eleveneng.com |
Phone: 780-425-6511 Fax: 780-425-7006 |