Allayer Communications Appoints Gordon M. Steel As Chief Financial Officer and Completes a New Round of Funding

New CFO brings more than 15 years of financial management experience in the semiconductor industry

SAN JOSE, Calif., August 14, 2000 -- Optical networking IC provider Allayer Communications to-day announced the appointment of Gordon Steel to the newly created post of Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. In this position, Steel brings more than 15 years of semiconductor industry financial management experience to Allayer.

Steel joins Allayer with an excellent record of achievement in the semiconductor industry. Previously, he was Vice President of Finance for Marvell Technology Group, LTD, a provider of integrated circuits for data storage and communications-related markets. He was responsible for Finance, Treasury, Tax and Facility Management.

Prior to Marvell, Steel served for 11 years as Sr. Vice President of Finance for Xilinx Inc., where he participated in raising private financing for the company, in implementing an initial public offering, and completing a $250 million subordinated convertible debenture. While Steel was at Xilinx, the company was recognized as one of the two best financially managed U.S.-based semiconductor companies an unprecedented five times by In-Stat, a consulting firm focused on the semiconductor industry.

Steel holds a MBA degree in Finance, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a BA in Economics from Pomona College.

"We are delighted to have Mr. Steel join us as CFO," said Dr. Cheng-chung Shih, president and founder of Allayer Communications. "His financial management experience in the semiconductor industry will complete and significantly enhance our executive management team. Gordon has an outstanding track record that is highlighted by his achievements at Xilinx and we are excited about the value he brings to Allayer."

Mr. Steel added, "I joined Allayer because of the company's innovative semiconductor technologies and its excellent management. I look forward to working with the Allayer management team to further extend the company's leadership in 10-Gigabit Ethernet Switching technology and spur its rapid growth in the exciting optical networking market."

New Round of Funding

In conjunction with the addition of a new CFO, Allayer Communications today announced that it raised an additional $12.4 million from several corporate investors. This brings the total investment in Allayer to $24.9 million. According to Mohan Maheswaran, vice president of marketing at Allayer, "This new investment will enable Allayer to complete its market leading portfolio of 10-Gigabit products targeted at Enterprise and Optical Networking applications. The Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch market segments are two of the fastest growing segments in the communications market and Allayer is well positioned to lead both markets."

Allayer's current Layer 2, voice ready, Fast/Gigabit Ethernet switch devices have been well received by the market, as evidenced by the impressive and growing list of network systems customers. "During the next quarter, we will be introducing several new and exciting devices that we believe will change the way many network OEMs approach high bandwidth Ethernet switching" said Maheswaran.

About Allayer

Allayer Communications is a leading producer of high bandwidth network ICs for the enterprise and optical network. The company develops scalable network architectures and mixed-signal switching and routing ICs for the Gigabit/Fast Ethernet and optical network markets. The corporate name -- pronounced "All-layer" -- represents the company's long-range intention to provide silicon solutions for all levels of the OSI networking model. Founded in 1997, Allayer's corporate headquarters is in San Jose, California with worldwide consulting sales and engineering offices. For more information please call 408-570-0888 or, visit our website at: http://www.allayer.com.

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