Atmel and Phoenix Technologies Collaborate to Create Next-generation Security Solutions for PCs

San Jose and Milpitas, California (ots/PRNewswire) -

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) and Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
(Nasdaq: PTEC), announced today the integration of Atmel's
FingerChip(R) biometric security solutions in Phoenix's FailSafe(TM)
and SecureCore Pre-boot Authentication (PBA) products.

This first cooperative design effort between the two industry
leaders provides for significantly stronger multifactor
authentication and enhanced security and is designed to bring
superior security solutions including theft-deterrence and tracking
for mobile PCs. Phoenix FailSafe will enable secure, remote tracking
of fingerprint sensor data in the event of laptop theft/loss.
SecureCore PBA integrated with Atmel's FingerChip Biometric
Solutions provides for Biometric User Authentication at the preboot
level, providing higher levels of security, since fingerprints
demand a user's presence and cannot be shared, stolen or written
down.

Atmel offers a very high performance, robust, and competitive
range of fingerprint-based biometric solutions for PC platforms,
based on Atmel's patented FingerChip Fingerprint sensors. These
solutions offer industry leading image quality, biometric performance
and security. Phoenix SecureCore PBA requires a user to authenticate
identity before the computer boots up. It also enables user
authentication from core systems software (also known as BIOS or
firmware) to the operating system directly, to achieve single sign-on
into the Windows(R) O/S environment.

"Combining FingerChip solutions with the Phoenix products
provides an added layer of security which is vital for many
enterprise and consumer markets demanding increased security and
privacy for stored data and logical access," said Bruno Charrat,
Director for Atmel Biometrics Business Unit. "Our collaboration with
Phoenix Technologies ensures the highest level of secure
authentication -- an increasingly important factor for any PC user.
Moving forward, we expect to see other collaborative initiatives by
Atmel and Phoenix, dedicated to bringing the best-in-class security
solutions to the PC market."

"Our work with Atmel to integrate their fingerprint sensors in
our FailSafe theft-deterrence platform enables an additional layer of
tracking methodology for mobile PCs. We not only want to provide
critical next-generation functionality to our PC OEM customers but
also embed certain features that will deter laptop theft," said
Surendra Arora, Vice President of Business Development at Phoenix
Technologies. "Additionally, our PBA collaboration with Atmel will
ensure that our EFI and UEFI-based SecureCore BIOS continues its
feature-set dominance."

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory
and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's
broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is
able to provide the electronics industry with complete system
solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications,
computing and automotive markets.

About Phoenix Technologies

Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC) is the global market
leader in system firmware that provides the most secure foundation
for today's computing environments. The PC industry's top builders
and specifiers trust Phoenix to pioneer open standards and deliver
innovative solutions that will help them differentiate their systems,
reduce time-to-market and increase their revenues. The Company's
flagship products, AwardCore, SecureCore, FailSafe and HyperSpace,
are revolutionizing the PC user experience by delivering
unprecedented security, reliability and ease-of-use. The Company
established industry leadership with its original BIOS product in
1983, has 155 technology patents and 139 pending applications, and
has shipped in over one billion systems. Phoenix is headquartered in
Milpitas, California with offices worldwide. For more information,
visit http://www.phoenix.com.

(C) 2008 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), logo
and combinations thereof, FingerChip(R), and others are registered
trademarks or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries.
Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Atmel Press Contacts:
Nancy Moore, Marketing Communications Manager
Tel: +1-719-540-3262, Email: nmoore@cso.atmel.com
Helen Perlegos, Public Relations
Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com
Phoenix Technologies Press Contacts:
Shauli Chaudhuri, Phoenix Technologies
Tel: +1-408-570-1060
E-mail: public_relations@phoenix.com
Cedric Vanhaver, GlobalFluency/Neale-May for Phoenix Technologies
Tel: +1-650-433-4154
Email: phoneix@globalfluency.com
Web site: http://www.atmel.com
http://www.phoenix.com

ots Originaltext: Atmel Corporation
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Contact:
Nancy Moore, Marketing Communications Manager, +1-719-540-3262,
nmoore@cso.atmel.com, or Helen Perlegos, Public Relations,
+1-408-487-2963, hperlegos@atmel.com, both of Atmel Corporation; or
Shauli Chaudhuri of Phoenix Technologies, +1-408-570-1060,
public_relations@phoenix.com; or Cedric Vanhaver of
GlobalFluency|Neale-May, +1-650-433-4154, phoneix@globalfluency.com,
for Phoenix Technologies