picoChip named by FierceWiFi as a 2006 "Fierce 15" mobile broadband company

picoChip announced today that it has been named in FierceWiFi's annual Fierce 15 list, honoring picoChip for its innovation in the wireless market. FierceWiFi is an internationally recognized email newsletter published by FierceMarkets (www.fiercemarkets.com), designed to provide executives with up-to-date information on the wireless broadband marketplace, from WiFi to WiMAX and beyond. picoChip's multi-core DSP has established it as the leading architecture for WiMAX infrastructure, and a key supplier to the emerging segment of 3G femtocells.

"We congratulate picoChip for being a FierceWiFi15 company," said Ben Frankel, editor of FierceWiFi. "This is truly a cutting-edge company, with its multi-core DSP setting the standard for signal processing performance and affordability. The company's solutions make software-defined radios viable; the company also offers complete software reference designs for WiMAX and UMTS. We also note the company's early attention to the Asian market. picoChip has been ahead of the pack on several fronts, and there is every reason to believe it will continue to occupy that position in the future."

Guillaume d'Eyssautier, President and CEO of picoChip, commented, "We are honored to be recognized publicly in this way for the key aspects of the company that we take pride in, and strive to excel at. It is notable how the broadband wireless market is developing from its success in WiFi to addressing technologies such as WiMAX and HSDPA, and that a publication like FierceWiFi has recognized us as leaders in this drive."

This is the second such award from FierceMarkets. picoChip was independently awarded the FierceWireless "Fierce 15" award in 2005.

picoChip provides software defined radio solutions to the key challenges of cost, development time and flexibility for the next generation of wireless systems. The company's multi-core processors deliver a world-beating price/performance combination. Uniquely, the company also delivers complete, standard-compliant reference designs for UMTS (HSDPA, upgradeable to HSUPA) and WiMAX/WiBRO (both 802.16d and 802.16e, with support for AAS and MIMO). WiMAX systems using picoChip are available from Airspan, Intel, Ericsson, Nortel, Marconi and a number of other manufacturers. picoChip technology is also being used to develop other advanced wireless protocols such as UMTS-LTE, 802.20 and TD-SCDMA, and in 4G research.

The Fierce 15 celebrates the spirit of being "fierce" - championing innovation and creativity, even in the face of intense competition. The complete list of Fierce 15 companies is available in today's issue of FierceWiFi and on the FierceWiFi Web site at www.fiercewifi.com.