Philips Semiconductors and Metrowerks Collaborate to Provide Software Development Tools for Next Generation Media Processing; Philips' TriMedia Processor Tools to be Hosted in the Metrowerks CodeWarrior IDE

Business Wire, Jan 6, 1997

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1997--Philips Semiconductors (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Metrowerks(TM) (Austin, Texas) have announced an agreement that provides new software programming tools for improving real-time graphic, audio and video quality for Mac(TM) OS systems using the TriMedia(TM) processor.

Metrowerks, a leading developer of computer language products, will integrate Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia development tools into its CodeWarrior(R) software development environment. The agreement will provide software developers with a single environment for development of Macintosh multimedia applications utilizing the TriMedia processor. The growing library of multimedia software available for the TriMedia processor can now be utilized in an integrated environment.

"We're very happy to be working with the Philips Semiconductors TriMedia Group in support of its tools," said Greg Galanos, president and chief technology officer of Metrowerks. "The combination of our CodeWarrior IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and the tools for the TriMedia processor from Philips will provide developers with a robust system for writing TriMedia-savvy applications. The agreement with Philips further extends Metrowerks' embedded tools strategy to include support for media processors for the first time."

"We designed TriMedia for easy, high-level language programming, and our goal is to make it as easy to program as a general purpose processor. Our agreement with Metrowerks is a major step toward reaching that goal, and demonstrates our commitment to the Mac OS developer community," said Keith Flagler, general manager of Philips' TriMedia Group.

The CodeWarrior and Philips TriMedia tools will comprise a new Metrowerks product: "CodeWarrior for TriMedia." CodeWarrior for TriMedia will be hosted on both Mac OS and Windows(R) 95/NT and offer support for development in C and C . Scheduled for release in the summer of 1997, CodeWarrior for TriMedia will be available direct from Metrowerks and Metrowerks authorized distributors and is expected to sell for a suggested retail price of US $699.

TriMedia's software-programmable multimedia processor is designed specifically for handling high-performance multimedia and communications operations. The device concurrently processes in real-time various media types, including audio, video and graphics.

Based on a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture, which packs up to five operations in a single VLIW instruction, the TriMedia processor is capable of executing up to four billion integer operations per second. In addition to the processor core, the TriMedia chip integrates several independent direct memory access (DMA) units, a glueless synchronous DRAM interface and a glueless PCI bus interface. All the internal elements communicate via an on-chip 32-bit data highway.

About Metrowerks

Founded in 1985, Metrowerks develops, markets and supports a complete line of computer language products for building Mac OS, Windows95, Windows NT(TM), MagicCap(TM), BeOS(TM), PalmOS(TM), PlayStation(TM) OS and PowerTV(TM) applications. Metrowerks' CodeWarrior products have become the industry standard for professional Mac-hosted software development with more than 50,000 registered users in 70 countries.

Additional information on Metrowerks and its products can be obtained in the U.S. by sending e-mail to info@metrowerks.com, by calling 800/377-5416, or via the Internet at http://www.metrowerks.com .

About Philips Semiconductors

Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia Product Group was established in 1994 and is based in Sunnyvale. The mission of the product group is to bring to market high-performance, programmable multimedia processor technology that will power the next generation of multimedia products at an affordable price.

TriMedia is part of Philips' Communications and Multimedia Business Group. Philips created this Business Group to bring together the latest technology and a knowledge base to drive innovation and provide a complete, competitive product portfolio for the emerging and fast-growing communications and multimedia markets.

Philips Semiconductors, Inc., a subsidiary of Philips Electronics North America Corporation and an affiliate of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eleventh largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia, and wireless communications market.

Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by regional customer applications labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be obtained by accessing the home page at http://www.semiconductors.philips.com . -0-

Note to Editors: Both Philips Semiconductors (Booth No. 3171) and Metrowerks (Booth No. 3647) will be exhibiting at MacWorld Expo from January 7-10, 1997, in Moscone Center's North Hall in San Francisco.