Conexant Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNXT), a worldwide leader in semiconductor solutions for broadband communications and the digital home, today announced the availability of two complete, OpenCable?-compliant cable set-top box (STB) reference designs for high-definition (HD) personal video recording (PVR) applications. The comprehensive reference designs are based on the company's recently announced CX2445X DOCSIS 2.0+ and EuroDOCSIS 2.0+ cable modem integrated circuits, and can be configured with either Conexant's CX24500 single-channel or CX2427X dual-channel HD MPEG-2/H.264/VC-1 video decoder. The highly integrated solutions also include core software and drivers that enable developers to quickly develop middleware and innovative applications for next-generation cable STBs.

?In today's fast-moving marketplace, time-to-market often determines a product's success, particularly in rapidly growing applications such as personal video recording,? said Lewis Brewster, executive vice president and general manager of Conexant's Broadband Media Processing business. ?Our new reference designs provide manufacturers with the ability to shorten product development cycles, which can provide them with a competitive edge that may translate to greater market share down the road.?

The reference designs include support for OpenCable applications platform (OCAP?), a middleware software layer specification that enables manufacturers to develop products that will run on any cable television system in North America, independent of the STB receiver hardware or operating system software. In addition, an embedded processor enables advanced hardware security features, and supports major industry security standards including downloadable conditional access system (DCAS?) and multi-stream CableCARD? (M-Card?). The reference designs also support major operating systems such as Linux®.

Conexant's CX2445X family of DOCSIS 2.0+ front-end cable STB chips feature three demodulators with downstream channel bonding capability, which significantly increases bandwidth capacity. Also included is an integrated out-of-band cable physical layer (PHY), which provides compatibility with legacy U.S. cable systems, and supports Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) standards 55-1 and 55-2.

The reference designs are offered with either Conexant's CX24500 single-channel video decoder for mass market STB devices with PVR capabilities, or the CX2427X dual-channel device which is capable of decoding two HDTV programs simultaneously for picture-in-picture display, and supporting networked PVR for whole-house video solutions. Both of the decoders support key video compression standards including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 advanced video coding (AVC)/H.264, and VC-1.

The CX2427X and CX24500 are the industry's highest performance dual- and single-video decoders, and are based on a powerful ARM® 1176 processor. To further boost performance, the devices include double data rate memory (DDR2) interface with unified memory, an integrated level two (L2) cache, an advanced graphics rendering engine and Jazelle® Java hardware accelerator for improved Java performance, and reduced memory foot print.

The video decoders have several integrated features including three USB ports, audio digital-to-analog converters (DACs), multiple video outputs including HD multimedia interface (HDMI) 1.3 with high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) 1.2, a Broadcast Television Systems Committee (BTSC) stereo encoder and channel 3/4 RF modulator, and two Ethernet media access controllers (MACs) with a media independent interface (MII). This enables future expansion for networking technologies such as MoCA, HomePlug® A/V, or 802.11 wireless networking. The reference designs also have a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface that facilitates the transfer of data to and from hard disks for PVR applications.

Conexant offers a comprehensive suite of digital set-top components and system solutions for worldwide entertainment and broadcasting networks. The company's product offering includes silicon tuners, demodulators, MPEG audio and video decoders, and dial-up and DOCSIS modems.

The HD-AVC/DOCSIS references designs are available to qualifying customers.

About Conexant

Conexant's innovative semiconductor solutions are driving broadband communications and digital home networks worldwide. The company has leveraged its expertise and leadership position in modem technologies to enable more Internet connections than all of its competitors combined, and continues to develop highly integrated silicon solutions for broadband data and media processing networks.

Key products include client-side xDSL and cable modem solutions, home network processors, broadcast video encoders and decoders, digital set-top box components and systems solutions, and dial-up modems. Conexant's suite of networking components includes a leadership portfolio of IEEE 802.11-compliant WLAN chipsets, software and reference designs, as well as solutions for applications based on HomePlug® and HomePNA?. The company also offers a complete line of asymmetric and symmetric DSL central office solutions, which are used by service providers worldwide to deliver broadband data, voice, and video over copper telephone lines.

Conexant is a fabless semiconductor company that recorded revenues of $970.8 million in fiscal year 2006. The company has approximately 3,200 employees worldwide, and is headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif. To learn more, please visit www.conexant.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

?Safe Harbor? Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release includes forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as Conexant or its management ?believes,? ?expects,? ?anticipates,? ?foresees,? ?forecasts,? ?estimates? or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements in this release that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that capital needed for our business and to repay our indebtedness will not be available when needed; the risk that the value of our common stock may be adversely affected by market volatility; general economic and political conditions and conditions in the markets we address; the substantial losses we have incurred recently; the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry and the markets addressed by our products and our customers' products; continuing volatility in the technology sector and the semiconductor industry; demand for and market acceptance of our new and existing products; our successful development of new products; the timing of our new product introductions and our product quality; our ability to anticipate trends and develop products for which there will be market demand; the availability of manufacturing capacity; pricing pressures and other competitive factors; changes in our product mix; product obsolescence; the ability of our customers to manage inventory; our ability to develop and implement new technologies and to obtain protection for the related intellectual property; the uncertainties of litigation, including claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights or demands that we license third-party technology, and the demands it may place on the time and attention of our management and the expense it may place on our company; and possible disruptions in commerce related to terrorist activity or armed conflict, as well as other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Conexant is a registered trademark of Conexant Systems, Inc. Other brands and names contained in this release are the property of their respective owners.