SAN JOSE, Calif., February 22, 1999 -- Allayer Communications today announced a major addition to the senior technical staff of the company. "I am delighted to introduce Mr. Yongbum Kim as Allayer's new Director of Systems Architecture," says Dr. Cheng-chung Shih, President and founder of Allayer. "As we grow into a major participant in the Fast Ethernet, Gigibit Ethernet and fiber optic connectivity market we need the expertise of senior technical experts like Yongbum Kim to guide our integrated circuit development program. Mr. Kim is well-known throughout the industry for his previous contributions to the networking industry."

Mr. Kim has previously been a founding member of Chipcom, a successful LAN ASIC startup company that is now a division of 3Com, and founded LANart, a Massachusetts based firm that designs and manufactures ICs for LAN equipment. He has over 16 years experience in the design of systems and communication devices and possesses a BA and MSEE from Boston University and performed post graduate work at MIT in Digital Signal Processing. In addition, he is an active contributing and voting member of the IEEE Project 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee as well as a member of numerous other computer and communications technical societies.

At Allayer, Mr. Kim will be responsible for leading the design of Allayerıs advanced MSSP (for Modular System Standard Product) devices that allow the building of advanced, high performance Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet switching systems using modular, easily expandable switching ICs. He will also spearhead the development of advanced, intelligent CMOS fiber optic devices.

From 1983 to 1992, Mr. Kim was a founding member of the Chipcom Corporation startup team. At that company he was responsible for the development of many major products including the Ethernet on Broadband product; the world's first Ethernet to Token Bus bridge; the Chipcom fiber optic Ethernet product line; the Online Concentrators, an intelligent modular hub that contributed 75% of Chipcom's revenue within two years of introduction; and for managing a low-end product division for Chipcom.

From 1992 to 1998, Mr. Kim was co-founder and Vice President of Technology at LANart Corporation. At this company he was responsible for designing and developing an advanced multi-gigabit LAN product architecture and defining the company's ASIC technologies. At LANart, Mr. Kim hired and managed a multi-disciplinary product development department; successfully managed the development of complex ASICs using reusable cores; developed several high-end system level products for the LAN network equipment market; and worked with major systems and semiconductor companies to develop joint projects.

"Allayer is an outstanding opportunity," says Mr. Kim. "As a veteran of two major LAN ASIC and systems operations and as a veteran of startup operations, I was impressed with the strategic plan and execution focus of the Allayer team. Allayer has an unusual combination of system-level expertise, mixed-signal ASIC design capabilities and fiber optics technology knowledge. These are exactly the things you need to succeed in the communications ICs marketplace. Best of all, the team-oriented focus of the company has been rewarded by excellent operational results. I am delighted to be part of the Allayer team and I expect to contribute my engineering and technology expertise and create industry-leading switching and fiber optic ICs."

Company Background

Allayer Communications designs, manufactures, markets and supports advanced semiconductor products that improve the edge network system by providing silicon solutions that make switches smarter and links between workgroups faster. 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 uses a Modular Systems Standard Product or MSSP approach to design the most flexible, high performance, and scalable ICs for Ethernet LAN switching and fiber optics applications. Allayer products are used by systems OEMs who manufacture local area networking equipment in the edge network that provides the interface between individual workstations or workgroups and the enterprise network backbone system. Leading products include the AL100, the industry's first 8-port Fast Ethernet Switching IC with trunking and the AL1000, the first commercially available Dual-port Gigabit Ethernet Switching IC.

Founded and managed by an experienced team of engineers and managers from Allied Telesyn, Rockwell, Level One, Exar, Cypress, Chipcom, LANart, Oak Technologies and Cabletron, Allayer is well positioned to lead the edge network systems market. Allayer possesses advanced engineering expertise in network system design, analog and digital ASIC design, and mixed-signal CMOS and fiber optics technologies.

The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif.